Bay Area voters go to the polls Monday as early voting begins

TAMPA, Fla. – Early voting begins Monday, but more than 14 million people have already voted in the 2024 general election, including more than 1.1 million in Florida who returned mail-in ballots.

Florida expects a rush of early voting starting Monday, Oct. 21, when most counties open in-person early voting sites. Each county’s election office lists in-person voting centers on their websites along with their hours of operation.

Gov. Ron DeSantis gave county election officials more flexibility to help deal with storm damage and help people who had to move because of it. It allows “election officials to make reasonable, modest but reasonable accommodations.”

Some district locations have changed. Election offices notify affected voters.

Voters can call the county elections official’s office or check their website to see which polling locations have changed this year. They will also receive a complete list of polling locations and early in-person voting dates. Voters can also request a mail-in ballot (or a new mail-in ballot if the mail-in ballot they received was damaged by the storms).

READ: Florida is suing the Biden administration over its alleged refusal to help the state remove non-citizens from the voter rolls

“We are coming together to make this process normal,” said Julie Marcus, Pinellas elections director. “It’s the fabric of who we are as America.”

Voters may cast their vote at an early voting location in their home county (the location where the voter’s address is on file with the state).

If you were displaced by the hurricanes and cannot return to your home county, you can call or visit your county’s election website to request a ballot to be mailed to the location where you are temporarily staying.

READ: 2024 Presidential Election: Here’s your voter’s guide to the Bay Area

The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is October 24th at 5:00 p.m. To be counted, the ballot papers must be received at the election office by November 5th at 7:00 p.m. at the latest (receipt, no postmark).

As an alternative to mailing it, voters can drop it off at a secure polling location at one of their home state’s early voting locations during early voting hours.

If you vote by mail, remember to sign your name on the back of the return envelope. Sign as usual. Don’t scribble because they will check your signature against the one on file and if there is a discrepancy, they will contact you to make the correction. For this reason, election offices also offer you the option to write your email address and phone number on the back of the ballot envelope (so that you can be contacted quickly if there are any problems).

And after you submit your mail-in ballot, you can also go online and track its progress from receipt to count.

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