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Florida Sends More Than 1.4 Million Mail Ballots Ahead of Aug. 18 Primary

Democratic leads in mail requests raise turnout questions for close statewide races.

Overview

  • County election offices began mailing vote-by-mail ballots in mid-July and the Florida Division of Elections says more than 1.4 million ballots have been sent for the Aug. 18 primary.
  • Registered Democrats have requested the most mail ballots so far, with about 623,548 requests compared with roughly 493,469 from Republicans and 270,642 from unaffiliated voters.
  • Key administrative deadlines are approaching: voters must register or change party by July 20 and request a mail ballot by Aug. 6, and counties require ballots to be received, not merely postmarked, by Election Day.
  • Officials urge voters to confirm their mail requests are active, return ballots early to allow time to cure any signature problems, and note that a 2021 law ended standing mail requests so voters had to re-request this cycle.
  • Overseas ballots were mailed earlier and about 477 have been returned so far, and a federal order affecting USPS handling of ballots was blocked by a judge, leaving state mail rules in force.