Here’s where to drop off your mail-in ballot in South Florida on Monday and Tuesday
One day out from Election Day, more than 4.6 million Florida residents have voted by mail. But over 1.3 million voters who requested mail ballots have still yet to return them, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
In South Florida, local party leaders and activists are making a final push Monday and Tuesday to make sure voters don’t leave their mail ballots at home. And they’re urging people to drop off those ballots in person, rather than use a U.S. Postal Service mailbox and risk having their ballots arrive past the 7 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
The Miami-Dade Democratic Party put up signs and stationed volunteers at early voting sites throughout the county Monday to intercept voters who might mistakenly show up to try to drop off their mail ballots.
All 33 early voting sites in Miami-Dade offered drop boxes during the 14 days of in-person early voting that ended Sunday. But the options to drop off mail ballots without utilizing USPS on Monday and Tuesday are more limited.
In Miami-Dade, voters can bring their mail ballots to one of four locations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: The Elections Department main office at 2700 Northwest 87th Ave., in Doral, Stephen P. Clark Government Center at 111 Northwest 1st Street in Miami, North Dade Regional Library at 2455 Northwest 183rd Street in Miami Gardens, and South Dade Regional Library at 10750 Southwest 211th Street in Cutler Bay.
“This is something that the public needs to be educated on,” Marybeth Prusher, the voter registration chair for the Miami-Dade Democrats, said Monday morning as she sat outside Palmetto Bay Branch Library, which was an early voting site.
Prusher said volunteers at various sites had already redirected dozens of people by around 9 a.m., including a woman and her elderly mother in Coral Gables who were “dismayed” to learn that only four sites were available for ballot drop-off countywide.
Voting advocates also continued to emphasize the message they’ve touted since early last week: It’s too late to mail your ballot via the U.S. Postal Service and know it will be received by elections officials on time.
“Overall, the message is, do not mail your ballot. There are drop boxes available,” Prusher said.
The Miami-Dade Republicans, who have relied less heavily than Democrats on mail voting, didn’t have volunteers at early voting sites like the Democrats did on Monday. Instead, they continued their direct outreach to voters in anticipation of big in-person turnout on Tuesday.
“Our voters aren’t big on absentee ballots right now,” said Nelson Diaz, the chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, pointing to recent concerns about USPS delivery delays. Diaz said the message he’s hearing from about 90% of Miami-Dade Republicans who haven’t voted yet is, “I’m going to vote tomorrow” on Election Day.
“I’m going to vote for real,” Diaz said, repeating the message he’s heard from voters.
Miami-Dade County elections officials reported Monday morning that about 180,000 voters — including about 76,000 Democrats, 48,000 Republicans and 54,000 independents — have yet to return their mail ballots. A chunk of those — about 70,000 as of Friday — ended up voting early in person instead of voting by mail, officials said.
Across South Florida, thousands of voters dropped off their mail ballots at early voting sites over the past two weeks, taking advantage of the expanded availability of drop-boxes due to concerns about the U.S. Postal Service and about voting in person due to COVID-19.
In Miami-Dade, nearly 162,000 of the 489,000 mail ballots cast so far, or about one-third, have been delivered to the election department’s drop-boxes.
Drop-off options in Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe
In Broward County, voters can drop off their mail ballots at all hours until 7 p.m. Tuesday at one of two locations: the rear entrance of Lauderhill Mall Voting Equipment Center, 1501 N.W. 40th Ave., Lauderhill, and the Brickell Avenue entrance to the Supervisor of Elections office at 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.
In Palm Beach County, mail ballots can be dropped off until 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Supervisor of Elections Main Office at 240 Military Trail in West Palm Beach, or until 5 p.m. Tuesday at the county’s three other supervisor of elections offices: the North County Branch Office at 3188 PGA Blvd. Room, No. 2401, in Palm Beach Gardens; the South County Branch Office at 345 S. Congress Ave. in Delray Beach; and the West County Branch Office at 2976 State Road 15, Second Floor, in Belle Glade.
And in Monroe County, mail ballots can be delivered to one of the three elections offices in the Florida Keys until 5 p.m. Monday and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The offices are at 530 Whitehead St., No. 101, in Key West; 10015 Overseas Highway in Marathon; and 102050 Overseas Highway, No. 137, in Key Largo.
This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 10:52 AM.
