Early Voting Is Over in Florida: More Than 5.2 Million Ballots Are Already In, and Election Day Is All That's Left
Florida's early voting closed Sunday evening with more than 5.2 million of the state's more than 13 million registered voters having already cast a ballot, according to the University of Florida figures carried in the evening reports. In Hillsborough County, over 40 percent of voters have already turned out - which means the nearly 60 percent who haven't are Tuesday's election.
Florida's early voting is finished. The evening reports opened by the desk this run put the closing shape of it plainly: as of 7 p.m. Sunday, voters can only cast a mail-in ballot or vote in person on Tuesday, and according to the University of Florida, more than 5.2 million out of more than 13 million registered voters in Florida have already cast their ballot, either by mail or in person, Tampa Bay 28 (ABC Action News) reported.
The county-level picture shows how much of the election is still out there. In Hillsborough County, over 40 percent of voters have already turned out, the report states; for the nearly 60 percent who haven't cast a ballot yet, planning ahead will be key. Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer's guidance, carried in the report, is the practical core of Election Day: 'On election day, your ballot's already printed and it's waiting for you at your polling site. That's why you must vote in the polling site attached to your precinct on election day.' Latimer said the most important things voters can do to save time Tuesday are to make a plan, know how they're going to vote, and not forget their ID - and he warned that with six amendments on the ballot, an unprepared voter could be standing in the privacy booth for about 30 minutes reading them.
Two mechanics from the report matter for anyone still holding a ballot. Photo ID with a signature is required to vote, such as a passport or a driver's license. And for voters who still have a mail-in ballot, it is too late to send it through the mail: those ballots must be dropped off at the supervisor of elections office, or the voter can go to their regular polling location, forfeit the mail-in ballot, and cast a physical ballot in person on Tuesday.
For Duval County, the desk's own Election Day guide (SQ-20261101-063) carries the county's exact rules - assigned precinct only, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern, the 7 p.m. receipt deadline for mail ballots and the Nov. 5 cure deadlines. This file is the statewide close: the early period that produced the Division of Elections' Sunday-morning count of 5,159,537 ballots (SQ-20261101-060) has now ended above 5.2 million in the University of Florida's tally, and every remaining Florida vote will be cast, or delivered, on Tuesday.
