Early voting in Florida started Monday, Oct. 21 and continues through Saturday, Nov. 2. Unlike Election Day, when you have to vote at your assigned precinct, registered voters can cast their ballot at the early voting location of their choice.
Early Voting Locations
All are open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Saturday, Nov. 2
•Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Office
213 S. Palafox, Second Floor
•Main Library
239 Spring St.
•Molino Community Center
6450 Highway 95A, Molino
•Asbury Place at Cokesbury Church
750 College Blvd.
•Southwest Branch Library
12248 Gulf Beach Highway
•Bellview Library
6425 Mobile Highway
•Escambia County Extension Services
3740 Stefani Road, Cantonment
•Brownsville Community Center
3200 W. DeSoto St.
•University of West Florida
11000 University Pkwy., Bldg. 78, Room 136
•Billy G. Ward Courthouse
7500 N. Century Blvd., Century
Escambia Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender spoke with us on “Real News with Rick Outzen” at 7:18 a.m. today.
Lincoln Project chief of staff Ryan Wiggins urges everyone to vote early.
“I’m not this concerned about Escambia County. Robert Bender is doing a great job as supervisor of elections, but there are concerns about voting nationwide,” Wiggins said. “There’s already been a terrorist plot that has been thwarted; ISIS and Iran that attempted to cause some issues on election day. There are other countries right now that are very, very invested in our elections and want to make sure that they go in a very chaotic way.”
She added, “It’s important that people get out and vote because it also lets the campaigns know where to spend their money in the final days and for the final push. Regardless of which campaign you are pulling for, it tells them when the votes are starting to come in, they know where they still need to work. And so it’s better across the board that we’re all involved to get those votes counted and counted early.”
Vote by Mail
If you plan to vote by mail, remember your ballot must be received in the Supervisor of Elections’ office by 7 p.m. Election Day.
Don’t stress too much if you requested a mail-in ballot and find yourself cutting it close to that deadline. You can skip mail altogether and drop off your ballot in person at the Supervisor of Elections office or at any early voting location during operating hours. You can also surrender your mail-in ballot at an early voting location or your precinct on Election Day and vote in person instead. But the key thing to remember is to bring in your mail-in ballot and surrender it. If you cannot return the ballot, you’ll have to vote via provisional ballot, and nobody wants that.
Have you already sent in your mail-in ballot? Don’t forget to track it online at escambiavotes.gov/track-my-ballot.
Photo by Viktoria Lavrynenko on Unsplash