Attention, Miami-Dade voters: More than half a million mail ballots go out today
More than 530,000 mail ballots requested by Miami-Dade County voters will go out from the county’s elections office in Doral Thursday morning with the Nov. 3 election just over a month away.
The volume of mail ballots is unprecedented as many voters look to avoid in-person voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 570,000 mail ballots have already been requested in Miami-Dade, according to state data, with a few weeks left before the 5 p.m. deadline Oct. 24 to ask for a mail ballot.
In the 2016 general election, by comparison, the county received just over 400,000 vote-by-mail requests.
Thursday is the final day of a one-week window for county election supervisors in Florida to start sending domestic mail ballots. Miami-Dade typically waits until the last day of that window to do so.
The county also sent out over 8,000 overseas ballots Sept. 19.
Mail ballots can be requested online through the county’s elections department website, by calling 311 or by writing to the Miami-Dade County Elections Department at P.O. Box 521550, Miami, FL 33152.
Written requests for mail ballots need to include the voter’s printed name, date of birth, current address, address where the ballot should be mailed, date of the Nov. 3 election and signature.
The completed ballots must be received by the elections department by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
Amid concerns about COVID-19 and cuts to the U.S. Postal Service, Miami-Dade is providing several options other than the USPS for voters to return their mail ballots. Those include:
- Drop boxes at each of the county’s 33 early voting sites during the early voting period from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. between Oct. 19 and Nov. 1.
- In-person drop-off Mondays through Fridays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Miami-Dade Elections Department at 2700 Northwest 87th Ave., Miami, FL 33172, or at the Stephen P. Clark Center Voter Information Center at 111 Northwest 1st St., Miami, FL 33128.
- In-person drop-off at one of four designated locations between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the Monday before Election Day and on Election Day.
The domestic ballots that will be delivered to Miami-Dade voters this week include many races beyond the presidential election, with President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Among the others: a race for county mayor, four runoffs for county commission, and six proposed state constitutional amendments.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
