Tuesday is the final day of voting in Florida Democratic and Republican primaries. All voters, regardless of party, can vote in summer elections for a range of offices, including judges and school board members.
Neighborhood polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 20.
Anyone who is in line at 7 p.m. is allowed to vote.
People must vote in their assigned neighborhood polling places on Election Day. People who have moved are required to vote in their new home precincts.
Some polling place locations have changed since the 2022 elections. The most recent voter information card has the polling place location, which can also be found on elections office websites.
People don’t need those voter information cards (commonly referred to as voter registration cards) to vote.
Voters do need a current, valid photo ID with a signature.
The most common are Florida driver’s licenses or state ID cards. Many other forms of ID are accepted, including passports and credit or debit cards are accepted. If the photo ID doesn’t have a voter’s signature, the person will have to show another ID with a signature.
Mail ballots
Vote-by-mail ballots must be in the possession of the supervisor of elections office in the county where a voter lives by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The 7 p.m. deadline in Florida law is strict. It’s too late to return a mail ballot via the Postal Service. Postmarks don’t count for mail ballot returns.
Mail ballots can be turned in at supervisor of elections offices headquarters and branch locations.
People who have a vote-by-mail ballot are allowed to vote at a neighborhood polling place on Election Day. However, mail ballots may not be turned in at local polling stations. (Elections officials said safeguards are in place to prevent someone from voting more than once.)
What’s at stake
Primaries: Registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in primaries to nominate candidates for the November general election.
Both parties have statewide U.S. Senate primaries. Broward and Palm Beach counties have multiple primaries for people seeking their party’s nominations for Congress, Florida Legislature and County Commission. Those are held in districts, so not every voter will have primaries for all those offices on their ballots.
Florida has closed primaries, which means someone who wants to participate must be a registered Republican or a Democrat. The deadline to change party affiliation for the upcoming primary has passed.
Nonpartisan elections: Everyone — Democrats, Republicans, no party affiliation independents, and members of minor parties — can participate in a variety of contests.
Nonpartisan contests for judge and School Board are open to all voters.
There are also several contests that are labeled primaries, but since only candidates from one party are running, they’re open to all voters.
The winners of those universal primaries face the voters only in August, and the positions won’t appear on the November general election ballot. Universal primaries in which all voters can participate include Broward clerk of the circuit court, tax collector, supervisor of elections and Palm Beach County public defender.
Information
People can check to see if they’re registered to vote, check the status of their mail ballots, and find locations of polling places online and by phone.
Broward County: browardvotes.gov, 954-357-8683.
Palm Beach County: votepalmbeach.gov, 561-656-6200.
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