ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s midterm elections do not get the attention from voters that a presidential election gets, but they are no less important.
Voter turnout usually trends lower for midterm elections. Perhaps people think the election is not that important. Maybe they forgot. In 2022, only 54% of voters turned out for the general election. By comparison, 78.9% of voters turned out for the 2024 presidential election, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
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Florida voters in 2026 will decide who succeeds Ron DeSantis as governor, who should run the Florida Legislature, who should represent them in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and they’ll decide on races for county and city governments.
These races have a more direct impact on the day-to-day lives of Floridians than the presidential election does, with taxes, school curriculum and whether the roads you drive on should have tolls among the topics to deliberate.
So it’s important to make sure you are able to vote in Florida.
What you need to be eligible to vote
You are eligible to vote in Florida if:
- You’re a citizen of the United States of America by birth or naturalization
- You’re a legal resident of Florida
- You’re a legal resident of the county in which you seek to be registered
- You’re at least 16 years old to preregister, or at least 18 years old to register and vote
- You’re not deemed mentally incapacitated with respect to voting in Florida or any other state without having the right to vote restored
- If you were convicted of a felony, when your right to vote has been restored in Florida
There are no set rules for what makes a legal resident in Florida. The biggest thing is you must have a home in the state. Also, your home address cannot be a post office box.
How to register
There are a few ways to register to vote in Florida.
Online:
Florida has an online voter registration system. Go to RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov. There, you can register to vote, update your voter registration, and check to see if you are registered. The site is available in English and in Spanish.
Note: If you do this, you must have a Florida driver’s license or Florida identification card that is issued by the state.
In person:
You can also register to vote in person at the following offices:
- The driver’s-license office
- A public library
- The Center for Independent Living
- WIC and DCF offices
- Armed forces recruitment officers
- Any supervisor of elections office
- A full list is available on the Division of Elections website
You can also print out a copy of the voter registration application and mail it to your county supervisor of elections office.
In order to register on a paper application, you must have:
- A Florida driver’s license or Florida identification card
- OR the last four digits of your Social Security number
What’s the deadline to register to vote?
In order to vote in an election, you must get your voter registration application in 29 days before that election, a deadline known as “book closing.” Here are the book closing dates for this year:
· August primary election: July 20
· November general election: Oct. 5
What if I’m from another state?
If you are from another state, you need to fill out a new voter registration form for Florida. Your registration does not transfer from one state to the next. You need to make sure you are registered by the dates above in order to vote in a Florida election.
What if I’m registered and I want to update my registration (in-state change of address, change party affiliation, etc.)?
Say you need to change your address, or you want to change your party affiliation so you can vote in a party primary. If you have a driver’s license, you can do this online at Register to Vote Florida.gov.
You will need a Florida driver’s license or a Florida identification card in order to make those changes; otherwise, you will have to download a voter registration application and mail in your changes to your county supervisor of elections office. You can also go to the office.
Note, if you are making changes to your party affiliation before a primary election, you must make those changes by the deadline to register for that election. Florida is a closed primary state, which means only people who are members of a political party can vote in party primary elections.
If you move to a new address within your county and you aren’t able to change your address before election day, you can go to your new polling precinct and update the address with the polling clerk.
What if I’m registered to vote, but I haven’t voted in a while?
You may be considered an inactive voter. That’s when a voter’s information cannot be verified, and then an address verification letter is sent to you but returned as “undeliverable.”
To go from being an inactive voter to an active voter, all you have to do is vote, or contact your county supervisor of elections office.
Being an inactive voter does not stop you from voting.
If you’re curious if your voter registration is active, you can go to RegisterToVoteFlorida.gov, and look up your registration under “Am I Already Registered?”
What if I’ve been removed from voter rolls by accident?
The Florida Division of Elections says voters are removed from the rolls if they are dead, not a U.S. citizen, not listing a valid Florida registration, have had their voting rights taken away because of a felony conviction or are judged to be mentally incapable, or if a voter has left the state and Florida election officials have been notified. A voter may also be asked to be removed from the rolls.
If you think you have been removed from the voter rolls by accident, you should contact your county supervisor of elections office immediately and submit a new voter registration application.
I am a convicted felon who has completed my sentence. How do I get my voting rights restored?
In Florida, certain felons who have completed their sentences are permitted to register to vote. Florida law requires that felons complete any prison and parole sentence, plus pay all applicable court fees.
Once this is done, you fill out a new voter registration application.
The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition can help you figure out if you have paid all your fees and fines. Go to the FRRC website to learn more.