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  • Haven’t turned in your Florida vote-by-mail ballot yet? Here’s what you should do with it

 

If you’re one of the nearly 700,000 Floridians who haven’t mailed out your ballot yet, it’s time to make other plans.

In Florida, vote-by-mail ballots are due in to the county election offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day, which is this coming Tuesday.

Florida law does not require a reason to vote by mail, and local election officials say voting by mail is a convenient option, especially for the elderly, those with disabilities, and those who don’t work a classic 9-5 schedule.

If you still have your ballot, here is what you need to do.

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Don’t mail it in

The chances that your vote-by-mail ballot makes it to the county elections office by Tuesday, at this point, are slim.

On top of the normal time it takes to send something through the mail, some counties are experiencing delays in getting ballots in.

Seminole County Supervisor Amy Pennock says her office is getting 20 calls a day, and an equal amount of emails, from people wanting to know either where their ballot is, or why her office hasn’t received or counted their ballot yet.

Other counties in Florida are reporting similar issues.

“We want to make sure your ballot gets cast,” Pennock said. “We’re doing everything possible. We’re doing two mail runs to pick up the mail, we’re working with our local post office who will be delivering the last run to our office that evening.

“But, just based on some of the challenges we’ve seen, I would recommend you drop it off in person,” she said.

Alternate ways to turn in your ballot

Aside from mailing your ballot, there are three ways to turn it in:

  1. Turn it in at the county supervisor of elections office in person
  2. Drop it off in a secure ballot intake station during the early voting period at an Early Voting site.
  3. Surrender it at your polling place on Tuesday and vote with a regular ballot.

To find your county elections office, go to this directory on the Florida Division of Elections website. You can drop your ballot off there up until 7 p.m. on election night.

Most early voting locations also have secure ballot intake stations for mail-in ballots. These are monitored drop boxes.

Early voting ends Saturday in most Central Florida counties, and Sunday in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.

You can find an early voting location near you by going to the links below. Remember, you must drop your ballot off in the county you live in.

Polling places on Tuesday, Nov. 3 open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. You can surrender your ballot there and then vote with a regular ballot. Be sure to bring a form of photo ID that has a signature.

To find your Central Florida Election Day polling place, use the links below.

To find information outside Central Florida, find your county supervisor of elections office HERE.

Here are answers to some other questions you may have about voting by mail.

Why do I need to sign the return envelope for my ballot?

A signature is required on the return envelope to verify who is mailing in the ballot. The signature is compared to the registration signatures in your voter record.

If you are worried about your signature being seen and used for identity theft as it makes its way back to the elections office, voters can put the ballot and envelope in another envelope and mail it back that way.

But the ballot itself must be in that return envelope the elections office provides you, and that envelope must be signed.

What if my signature doesn’t match the one on file?

Signatures change over time as voters age. They may have health issues that can change signatures too. Plus, there is the issue of cursive vs. printing, especially with younger voters, election officials said. These things are taken into account when looking at a signature.

Every signature is checked against the voter’s record, and if there is a discrepancy, you will receive a “cure affidavit.” This gives you a chance to cure your ballot, up to two days after the election.

The elections office will try to contact the voter in any way they can, so make sure you have contact information on file with the county elections office. This is a good reason to get your ballot in sooner rather than later.

You can also always update the signature on file with the county elections office.

Learn more about the process of curing a ballot HERE.

Can someone return my vote-by-mail ballot for me?

A voter can turn in ballots of family members and up to two ballots by people who are not family members.

This is to curb so-called “ballot harvesting.”

How can I track my ballot and make sure it was received?

You can go to your county supervisor of elections website and track the status of your ballot, whether it has been returned, whether it’s been accepted and whether there is something you have to fix. Many of them use programs that can help with that, such as BallotTrax. You must sign up for that program.

How do election officials know a vote-by-mail ballot isn’t fraudulent?

Florida law requires all people voting by mail to be registered voters and to request a ballot using a specific form. Voters must include their Florida driver’s license number, Florida ID card number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number when requesting a ballot. There are also rules on who can request a ballot for a person and drop it off.

All ballots have a barcode that is scanned to check in for tabulation. Voters can track the status of their ballot using a system like BallotTrax.

In addition, all ballot envelopes must be signed, and that envelope is checked against the voting record. If a problem or a discrepancy is found at any point in this process, the voter must be contacted to fix the ballot.

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