You haven’t mailed your mail-in ballot yet? How South Florida voters can beat deadline
The envelope is just sitting on your table. Lonely. Waiting.
We’re not talking about unpaid bills here. This is your mail-in ballot that has yet to be mailed.
Hello, procrastinators: Your deadline is approaching to get your ballot into the mail so it gets to the election supervisor by Tuesday, Election Day, and gets counted.
But will it?
With Election Day quickly approaching, you may not want to take the risk of the mail getting there on time. Especially if you haven’t sat down to fill it out yet.
So you have some options.
You can take your completed mail-in ballot to an early voting center in your county. Early voting centers will accept mail-in ballots through Sunday, Nov. 6. And if you come from a family of procrastinators, you can also deliver up to three other ballots besides your own to drop in the box or hand in to a poll worker.
If you miss that deadline, you will have to deliver completed ballots to your county’s supervisor of elections office Monday, Nov. 7, and Tuesday, Nov. 8. The deadline to get your mail-in ballot in: when the polls close at 7 p.m.
If you haven’t filled in your ballot on Tuesday, you can also go to your precinct with it and vote in person. You may be a procrastinator but you would have done your civic duty.
Here are details on ways for your mail-in ballot to beat the deadline:
How can I return my ballot?
Vote-by-mail ballots can be returned to drop boxes during early voting hours.
A ballot cannot be dropped off at a voter’s designated voting precinct on Election Day. If you wait until Election Day to turn in your mail ballot, you must bring it to your county’s Elections Department before 7 p.m.
Miami-Dade
By mail: You can return your ballot by mail to Vote-by-Mail Ballot Section, Supervisor of Elections, P.O. Box 521250, Miami, FL 33152. The Elections Department must receive the ballot before 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Drop-off: The ballot can be turned in at any early voting location through Sunday, Nov. 6, or dropped off at the Miami-Dade Elections Department, 2700 NW 87th Ave. in Doral, Monday and Tuesday or at the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st St. in Miami.
On Election Day you can only drop those mail in ballots off at the Doral or Clark Center offices. Or you can bring it with you to your precinct and have a poll worker cancel it and then vote in person.
Broward
By mail: Ballots can be mailed to the Elections Department and must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Mailed ballots must be addressed to P.O. Box 29001, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33302.
Drop-off: Ballots can also be turned in to early voting locations through Sunday, Nov. 6., and on Monday and Tuesday to the Broward County Supervisor of Elections in downtown Fort Lauderdale, 115 S. Andrews Ave., or at the annex at 1501 NW 40th Ave. in Lauderhill.
If you waited until Election Day and want to use that mail in ballot you can only drop it off at the Supervisor of Elections office. Not at your precinct.
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 3:51 PM.
