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Tuesday, Aug. 18, is the Florida Statewide Primary election, a mix of party primaries and nonpartisan local elections, such as school board races, judicial races, and county commission races in some counties. Here's what you need to know to vote in the primary.

Before Florida voters go to the polls for the midterm elections in November, there is another big election in August: the Statewide Primary on Aug. 18. However, if you want to vote in any of the party primaries for governor, Senate or other positions, you have to be a member of a political party. That’s because Florida is a closed primary state.

New myths and half-truths seem to pop up every election cycle. Some of them stem from the fact that each state has different election rules and people don’t realize what may be true in one state is not true in another. Some of them are malicious attempts to cause trouble and even stop people from voting. This election year, we take a look at 39 myths.

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.

2026 is a midterm election year. While we won’t elect a president, in Florida we will decide who should fill some very important seats in government.

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. So it’s important to make sure you are able to vote in Florida.

Ahead of the primaries later this month, Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback has launched accusations that competitor Byron Donalds is under federal investigation for sex trafficking.

With less than two weeks before the primary election, candidates for the highly contested Congressional District 7 took on several issues on Thursday in Lake Mary. The forum focused on topics facing the business community, such as taxes, government contracting, and technology.

At the same time Kissimmee voters will choose two of their five city commissioners during the Aug. 18 primary, they will also determine whether those elected officials will be able to serve an extra term before they have to step down from the dais, at least temporarily. Voters will also decide if their successors must be subject to a criminal background check to even get on future ballots.

Moms for Liberty changed the political make-up of school boards across the state of Florida through a commitment to endorsing school board candidates. Today, Moms for Liberty Florida has not made any contributions to local school board candidates across Florida and is poised to be just a minor player this cycle, according to campaign finance records, interviews with former local members and experts on culture war movements and a survey of public social media pages for local chapters, some of which are now defunct.

A recently approved park expansion in Volusia County marks a final step toward the state’s goal to protect land surrounding North Peninsula State Park. But the county’s plans for improving Highbridge Park could be derailed if Florida voters approve a proposed property tax overhaul this November.

A federal survey shows that, on average, U.S. households spent 12% of the family budget on food in 2024. For very-low-income households, it was 33%. And over the past year, as food costs continued to rise, a new federal law pushed hundreds of thousands of Floridians out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, America’s food security safety net. This article from Central Florida Public Media looks at those issues. It also focuses on the congressional options one voter affected by food insecurity will have on this year’s General Election ballot.