Voting By Mail In Florida: Take The Patch Survey

FLORIDA — Registered voters in Florida can now request mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 general election. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of people are expected to cast their ballots via the mail rather than voting in person.

In Florida, requests for mail-in ballots can be made for all elections through the calendar year. Voters must be registered to make the vote-by-mail request. Patch has created an informal survey to gauge Florida voters' opinions on voting options for the general election.

The Florida Division of Elections says a request for a vote-by-mail ballot may be made in one of these ways:

• Online application on your county Supervisors of Elections' website;
• By email, fax or mail to Supervisor of Elections;
• In person at Supervisor of Elections;
• By telephone call to Supervisor of Elections.

With more Americans expected to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Postal Service has been in the spotlight for mail delay concerns amid recent operational changes. After public outcry, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the changes are paused until at least after the election. According to NPR, that means post office hours won't be altered, mail processing facilities won't be closed, and existing mail processing equipment and collection boxes will stay.

DeJoy promised that post offices will be ready to handle the anticipated influx of election mail.

A returned ballot must be received by the Supervisor of Elections’ office no later than 7 p.m. (local time) on Election Day. The postal service recommends that voters mail back their voted ballots at least one week before the Election Day deadline.

Vote-by-mail ballots in Florida may also be returned at secure drop boxes at Supervisor of Elections' main and branch offices and early voting sites in your county. Contact your Supervisor of Elections or visit their website for the location of all vote-by-mail ballot secure drop boxes in the county.

Patch has created this survey to find out what readers think about mail-in voting. The survey is not meant to be a scientific poll, with random sampling and margins of error, but is meant to gauge the sentiments of our readers in an informal way.

Take our quick survey below. A results story will be shared after the survey closes at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Thanks in advance for participating.