Early voting opens in every Florida county tomorrow
More than 1.6 million Floridians have already cast ballots — about one in nine registered voters. But the main event starts Saturday: from Oct. 24 through Oct. 31, every one of Florida's 67 counties must open early voting sites. If you are planning to vote in person before Election Day, this is your week.
- Early voting runs Saturday, Oct. 24 through Saturday, Oct. 31 in all 67 counties. Hours and sites vary by county — check your county Supervisor of Elections before you go, and bring a photo ID with your signature.
- Already cast: more than 1.6 million ballots, 11.7% of Florida's 13.7 million registered voters (Division of Elections figures posted Thursday).
- Holding a mail ballot you haven't returned? You can hand it in at a secure drop-off station at any early voting site in your county instead of mailing it. Mailed ballots must be received — not postmarked — by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. The deadline to request a mail ballot passed Oct. 22.
- The pace is running about 10% behind 2022 at the same point (UF Election Lab comparison), mostly for a mechanical reason: a 2021 law wiped the mail-ballot request list after the last general election, so mail voters had to re-request from zero this cycle.
- In 2022, 7.8 million Floridians voted, and roughly 64% of the ballots were cast before Election Day — the early in-person week is historically when the largest share of them lands.
Here is the part to pass along: early voting opens in every Florida county tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 24, and runs through Saturday, Oct. 31. Counties were allowed to open as early as Oct. 19, and a bit more than half did — but from Saturday the sites are mandatory statewide. Hours vary by county, so check your Supervisor of Elections for your locations and times before heading out, and take a current photo ID that carries your signature.
Plenty of Floridians have not waited. By Thursday morning the Division of Elections counted more than 1.6 million ballots already cast — about 11.7% of the state's 13.7 million registered voters. By method and party registration, returned mail ballots ran nearly 485,000 Democratic to just under 406,000 Republican, with about 212,000 from voters with no party affiliation; at early voting sites, Republicans led roughly 235,000 to 211,000, with about 93,000 unaffiliated. Those figures describe who has voted, not how — a returned ballot's party is the voter's registration, not their choice.
If you requested a mail ballot and it is still sitting on your counter, two things to know. The window to request one closed Oct. 22, so the ballot you have is the one you have got. And you do not have to trust the mail with it: every early voting site runs a secure drop-off station where you can hand it in during voting hours. However it travels, a mail ballot counts only if it is received by your county elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3 — a postmark does not save it.
Measured against the last midterm, this year's pace is running about 10% behind at the same point, per the University of Florida Election Lab's day-by-day comparison — Republican ballots down about 15%, Democratic ballots down about 9%. Before reading that as enthusiasm either way, account for the machinery: a 2021 change in state law made mail-ballot requests expire after a single general election instead of carrying through two, which meant this cycle's mail electorate had to rebuild its request list from scratch. UF's Michael McDonald points out that 2026 mail requests trail even the number of mail ballots returned in 2022 by more than 200,000 — mail volume was structurally capped lower this year, and the early in-person lines suggest at least some of those voters are simply showing up instead.
History says the week starting tomorrow is when Florida really votes. In 2022, 7.8 million people cast ballots — 53.8% of those registered — and roughly 64% of the votes were in before Election Day: about 2.77 million by mail and 2.27 million at early voting sites, where Republicans out-cast Democrats 1.17 million to about 675,000. If this cycle rhymes, the majority of Florida's 2026 vote will be banked by Halloween night.
So: sites open tomorrow, they run eight days, and the lines only get longer from here. Check your county's locations, take your ID, and if there is a mail ballot on your counter, you can settle it in person. Election Day is Nov. 3 — but Florida's election week starts Saturday.