Florida offers residents multiple ways to cast a ballot for elections — early voting, in person on Election Day, and by mail.
“Vote by mail, contrary to what you've heard, it is safe, it is secure," Pasco County elections supervisor Brian Corley said. "I vote by mail, my wife votes by mail, my eighty-year-old mom votes by mail. So, I don't know what better testimony to give than that.”
And you still have time to get a mail ballot if that’s how you want to vote — the deadline is the 12th day before an election at 5 p.m., or Aug. 6 for the primaries. You can go to the Supervisor of Elections website for the county you're registered in, mail in a form, or call the office.
Florida law requires residents to request a new mail ballot each cycle. So if you voted by mail in the 2024 election, you'll need to re-request for this cycle. But it will only last through the end of this year. If you want to vote by mail for an election next year, you'll need to request one after Jan. 1.
Corley said voting by mail has recently gotten a bad rap, but it's actually extremely safe in Florida.
"Some of the confusion is that there are politicians conflating how Florida does it with other states, and what I mean by that is there are some states that mail them out to every voter, whether you request it or not. Florida is not that way," he said. "You have to request it, and when you do request, you have to validate with the last four (digits) of your social security number or your driver's license number."
The first batch of mail ballots were sent out last week to the military and people overseas. He said the domestic non-military ballots will go out this week. As of July 6, about 125,000 people are registered to vote by mail statewide.
Florida is a closed-primary state
Corley said a lot of people don't realize that Florida is a closed-primary state — which means you can only vote in partisan races for the party you are registered with.
But if you are registered as No-Party or Independent and want to chime in on a race for Republicans or Democrats, you have until July 20 to change your party. But all ballots will include the nonpartisan races, like school board and judicial contests.
"Possibly the hardest thing is figuring out who they're going to vote for or how they're going to vote on particular issues, but logistically it's so easy," Corley said.
"We send you the ballot, you can fill it out in the comfort of your dining room table or sitting on your couch," he added. "If you forget to put a stamp on there, we have an arrangement with the United States Postal Service — they're still going to deliver it."
And Corley said there's a benefit to mail-in voting. If you get a lot of targeted messaging or flyers sent to your residence, they would stop once you turn your ballot back in, at least until the election is over.
"The political parties, the campaigns will see you returned it, and they're not going to expend more resources to send you that text message, that flyer, so there's a way to stop the campaigning right there, easy," he said.
Corley said you’ll want to mail your marked and signed ballot at least one week before Election Day on Aug. 18. You can track it online too. You can see where it is, when it gets to the office, and if there are any issues with the ballot, the elections office will notify you.
If you'd rather hand your ballot to someone rather than put it in your mailbox, you can take it to a secure ballot intake station during early voting. But if you miss the deadline, you have until 7 p.m. on Election Day to drop off your ballot at your Supervisor of Elections’ office. And Corley said it's important to turn in your ballot on time, because if it arrives after the deadline, it won't be counted.
Some important resources
The Florida Division of Elections website is a one-stop shop for all the information you'll need to vote. You can find your Supervisor of Elections office, get statistics on this election and previous ones, and look up your voting precinct.
Here are some direct links to help you get there:
- Supervisor of Elections
- Voter Registration
- Voter Precinct Lookup
- Early Voting Sites/Secure Ballot Intake Stations (information will be available after July 19)
- Election Dates and Deadlines
- Vote-by-Mail Ballot Request/Status Lookup
Want to join the conversation or share your story? Email Meghan at bowman4@wusf.org.
If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team by clicking here.
This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
