ORLANDO, Fla. – In 2022, around 7.8 million voters took part in the November general election, and more than 2.7 million of those voted by mail, according to data from the Florida Division of Elections.
More Floridians have been using vote-by-mail in the last few elections, as it’s a convenient option, especially for the elderly, the infirm and those who don’t work a classic 9-5 schedule.
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Florida has a no-excuse vote-by-mail system, which means you don’t need to give a reason to vote by mail in an election. You just need to request a ballot.
If you want to vote by mail in Florida in 2024, here is how to do it.
How do I request a vote-by-mail ballot?
A voter can request a ballot be mailed to them by contacting their county supervisor of elections office. You can find a list of the county offices in the state on the Florida Division of Elections website.
That request can be:
- Called in
- Made in person at the office
- Mailed, faxed or emailed in. If you do this, you must provide a signed request (in the case of an email, you must scan a signed letter and send it in as an attachment)
All requests must have this information:
- Voter’s full name
- Date of birth
- Address
- The voter’s Florida driver’s license number, identification card number or last four digits of their social security number
Those identification numbers are required to be on file with the county supervisor of elections office to get your VBM ballot request approved.
To do that, you will need to fill out a voter registration form to update the information your county has on file, Cowles said. You can find a list of the county offices in the state on the Florida Division of Elections website.
Do I have to request a ballot for every election?
Anyone wanting to vote by mail in Florida this year must put in a request to do so with their county office. All vote-by-mail ballot requests from 2022 have now expired. A new vote-by-mail ballot request will be valid for all elections this year. You can find a list of the county offices in the state on the Florida Division of Elections website.
Can someone request a ballot for me?
Yes. An immediate family member or a legal guardian can request a ballot on a voter’s behalf.
The person requesting the ballot must include their address, driver’s license number, ID card or last four digits of their social security number, and their relationship to the voter, in addition to the voter’s information. If the request is being mailed in, the requestor must provide a signature as well.
What is the deadline to send in my ballot request?
VBM ballot requests must be submitted 10 days before an election.
- Presidential Preference Primary: March 7
- Statewide Primary: Aug. 8
- General Election: Oct. 24
The elections supervisor then has two days to get the ballot out to you.
After that deadline, you can always go to the supervisor of elections office in your county, make that request in person and pick up your ballot.
However, elections officials said if you are going to do that, you might as well just vote early, since you will be in the midst of the early voting period.
What if I make a mistake on my ballot?
If you make a mistake on your ballot, contact your county supervisor of elections office and they will send you a new ballot. You can’t fix a mistake on your ballot after you send it in, so be sure you are certain about your responses before you return your ballot.
What is the deadline to turn in a vote-by-mail ballot?
All VBM ballots must be turned in to your county supervisor of elections office by 7 p.m. on election day. Ballots that are postmarked on election day but not returned until after election day will not be accepted.
How do I turn in a vote by mail ballot?
There are three ways to turn in a ballot:
- Mail it through a shipping service like the U.S. Postal Service
- Turn it in at the county supervisor of elections office in person
- Drop it off in a secure ballot intake box during the early voting period
If you plan to mail it back to the supervisor’s office, Orange County Supervisor Bill Cowles said it’s best to get the ballot in as soon as possible.
“Let’s understand, you don’t get next-day service with the (U.S. Postal Service), and if you are mailing it, mail it sooner rather than later,” Cowles said. “If you think of it from the postal side, there is no mail on Sunday. If you send it on Saturday, there’s no guarantee it’s going to get to me on Monday or Tuesday night.”
Cowles also suggests that, if you are going to be out of state when you need to turn in your ballot, you consider using UPS or FedEx to send in your ballot to make sure it gets there on time.
Will secure ballot intake boxes for vote-by-mail ballots return?
The Florida Legislature allows counties to have “secure ballot intake” boxes during the early voting period. The boxes must be staffed. Many counties will have them at the early voting polling places and the supervisor of elections offices, but not all of them.
Contact your county elections office to find out where the secure ballot intake boxes will be stationed.
If I mail in my ballot, do I have to pay for postage?
Many, but not all, Central Florida counties include a “return postage paid” envelope with your VBM ballot. The counties that do include:
- Brevard
- Lake
- Marion
- Orange
- Osceola
- Polk
- Volusia
Flagler, Seminole and Sumter counties do not provide a return postage-paid envelope.
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 matched up with the one the county supervisor of elections has in your 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.
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.”
While elections workers may not always ask you to verify which ballots are yours and which belong to family members, there will likely be volunteer poll monitors out and about and watching.
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.
What if I still have my vote-by-mail ballot on Election Day?
If you have not mailed out your vote-by-mail ballot yet and Election Day is just a day or two away, don’t mail out your ballot. It will not get to the county supervisor of elections office in time. It must be at the county supervisor of elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day or it will not count.
You can either hand deliver it to the elections office or turn it over at your polling precinct on Election Day and get a regular ballot to fill out instead.
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