2024 Primary Election vote-by-mail ballots mailed
Press release from Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. — Just over 25,000 vote-by-mail ballots for the 2024 Primary Election have been mailed to Alachua County voters.
Voters who requested a vote-by-mail ballot should expect to receive their ballot in the next week. Ballots will arrive in white envelopes with pink stripes.
Any registered voter can sign up to vote by mail. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the 2024 Primary Election is 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 8. Vote-by-mail ballots can be requested online, in person, by phone, fax, mail, or email. Until the deadline, vote-by-mail ballot requests will be processed as they are received.
Florida is a closed primary election state, meaning that only voters registered with a political party can vote for that party’s candidates in partisan races.
However, there is something on the ballot for everyone.
All registered voters, regardless of party affiliation, can vote on issues and nonpartisan races.
Any voter who wishes to change their party affiliation must do so by the July 22 deadline for the change to take effect for this year’s Primary Election.
The Supervisor of Elections Office must receive domestic vote-by-mail ballots by 7 p.m. on Election Day (Tuesday, August 20). Voters who vote-by-mail are encouraged to mail their completed ballot well in advance of Election Day to give the ballot ample time to arrive at the Supervisor of Elections Office before the deadline. Voters should also verify that their voter information and signature are up-to-date before they return their ballot if they have moved or their signature has changed.
Additionally, when completing and mailing their vote-by-mail ballot, voters are encouraged to follow the following instructions:
- Completely fill in the oval next to your choice on your ballot — do not circle or mark an “X” over the oval.
- If you make a mistake on your ballot, call the Supervisor of Elections Office at 352-374-5252.
- Be sure to sign your vote-by-mail ballot certificate envelope.
- Return your vote-by-mail ballot in the official envelope provided. Return postage is prepaid.
Any voter who does not sign their vote-by-mail ballot or whose signature on the vote-by-mail ballot certificate does not compare to the signature in their voter record will be contacted by the Supervisor of Elections Office and provided the opportunity to correct their ballot. Per Florida Statutes, voters have until 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 22 to complete an affidavit to correct a vote-by-mail ballot that does not have a signature or has a signature that does not compare to the voter’s signature on file.
Voters can deliver completed vote-by-mail ballots to the Supervisor of Elections Office, located in Gainesville at 515 N. Main St. during normal business hours — 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Voters can also use the Secure Ballot Intake Station located outside of the office’s main entrance during the early voting period, which will take place between August 5 and August 17. The Secure Ballot Intake Station will be available between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the Supervisor of Elections Office during the early voting period and at the other seven early voting locations in the county.
The full list of early voting locations for the 2024 Primary Election are:
- Supervisor of Elections Office, 515 North Main Street, Gainesville, FL 32601
- Millhopper Branch Library, 3145 NW 43rd Street, Gainesville, FL 32606
- J. Wayne Reitz Union, 655 Reitz Union Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611
- Tower Road Branch Library, 3020 SW 75th Street, Gainesville, FL 32608
- Alachua County Agriculture and Equestrian Center, 23100 W Newberry Rd, Newberry, FL 32669
- Legacy Park Multipurpose Center, 15400 Peggy Road, Alachua, FL 32615
- Hawthorne Community Center, 6700 SE 221st St, Hawthorne, FL 32640
- (NEW) Sante Fe College, S-029, 3000 NW 83rd St, Gainesville, FL 32606
After early voting has ended, the Secure Ballot Intake Station will be available at the Supervisor of Elections Office only on Sunday, August 18 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Monday, August 19 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day (August 20).
Plenty of time.
Plenty of ways to verify eligibility.
Plenty of decisions that may impact your life.
Zero reasons not to vote…make yours count.
Almost a quarter of Alachua County voters are not affiliated with either party so, yes, there is plenty of reason not to vote in a closed primary election. What a dumb state law…exclude the centrists
That is not correct. There are two school board races and two Gainesville City Commission races on the August ballot. These are not primaries but are the final elections, and everyone can vote for school board. The City races are at-large (all Gainesville residents) and District 1.
Thanks for correcting me – I lazily assumed those would be on the Nov general ballot, not the Aug ‘Primary Election’ ballot.
Of course our Supervisor of Elections doesn’t put the commissioner and school board races on the general ballot. They know the turn out is much much higher for general compared to primary. They also should not call it “2024 Primary Election” when it includes much more than primary races.
I’m glad Slice and Jennifer had this back and forth because I was under the same impression too.
The SOE doesn’t determine which races are on which ballots. The school board elections are set by state statute, but Gainesville voters approved a charter referendum in 2018 that moved City Commission races to the August ballot starting in 2022.
Here is what Ballotpedia says about Florida school board elections: If two or more candidates run for a school board seat, a nonpartisan primary election is held. If a candidate gets a simple majority of votes (50% + 1 vote) in the primary election, they are elected to office outright, provided no write-in candidate qualifies for the general election. If no candidate gets a majority, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election.
In the school board nonpartisan general election, the candidate with the most votes is elected to office.
Thank you for correcting me as well.
I wish the press release had confirmed one thing, just for the record: “Only those who requested a mail-in ballot will have one mailed to them.”
But if you do get a mail-in ballot you didn’t request, here’s a suggestion:
1. Get your mail-in ballot
2. Take photos of envelope & ballot
3. DO NOT MAIL YOUR BALLOT!
4. On election day, vote with your mail-in ballot
5. Cast a provisional ballot if there’s a problem
Details here: https://electioncrimebureau.com/vip/
What the geniuses behind this info DIDN’T tell you that in Florida you can only vote with your mail-in ballot by delivering it to the SOE’s office no later than 7:00pm on election day.
Precinct polling places CANNOT accept mail-in ballots for voting purposes.
You can hand deliver your mail-in ballot per SOE’s instructions if you don’t want to use the mail.
At your assigned polling precinct you CAN go ahead and vote in-person the regular way with the understanding that your mail-in ballot will be automatically cancelled when you sign in and accept a regular ballot BUT, you CANNOT have your mail-in ballot INSIDE the polling place AND get a regular ballot at the SAME TIME!
Yes, you can vote provisional ballot but, expect additional delays and paperwork.
This info appears to be a deliberate attempt to cause confusion and problems on voting day that will only hinder you and other voters trying to vote as well as causing delays in processing the count at the SOE’s office.
Good information, thank you.
But it’s not an attempt to “cause confusion and problems on voting day”. It’s an attempt to resolve the issue when a person shows up to vote and is told they already voted via mail-in ballot. Sounds like Florida has a pretty good reconciliation system in place (presuming the state can verify that a fraudulently-cast mail-in ballot is NOT counted).
Understood. Thanks for stating your concern.
Florida’s voting system automatically cancels any mail-in ballot when the voter decides to vote in person. By signing in at your assigned precinct or early voting site the system AUTOMATICALLY cancels the mail-in option at that time; you can’t vote at your precinct and then run to the SOE’s office with your mail-in ballot and hand it in as the system will show you as having already voted. The opposite situation also applies.
This is also why a mail-in ballot MUST be delivered ONLY to the SOE’s office if you want to use it to vote. Your polling place CANNOT, by law, accept it other than to take it in as part of the regular vote-in-person process, write “CANCELED” on it, and place it in a separate bag to be turned in to the SOE’s office with all the other paperwork AFTER the polls close. If a poll worker tries to vote with it then the paper audit totals and trail will not balance.
If some reason you go vote in person only to be told you’ve already “voted by mail” and you’re standing there with your mail-in ballot then, YES, there is a problem!
In that case the precinct clerk and the SOE’s office will become involved; if the matter can’t be resolved at that time then you will be allowed to vote by provisional ballot while further inquiry is made.
Regardless of the situation, you will be allowed to vote one way or another pending full resolution.
One last word, DON’T confuse the statement from the check-in clerk that “you were issued a mail-in ballot” with something along the lines of “you’ve already voted by mail”. That’s not what is being stated.
The check-in clerk is merely confirming your were mailed a ballot and now wish to vote in person which is totally fine, no problem, just want to be sure you are changing your mind.
If there are ANY questions, contact the SOE’s office and talk to them until you’re satisfied with the information provided–don’t rely on some private, unofficial web site.