Broward County starts sending mail ballots to voters. Miami-Dade is next week

Aaron Leibowitz
·2 min read

The Nov. 3 election is 40 days away. But in an unprecedented year for voting by mail, Thursday marks a critical point for Florida as county elections offices begin sending out hundreds of thousands of domestic ballots through the U.S. Postal Service.

In Broward County, USPS trailer trucks will pick up about 250,000 vote-by-mail ballots from the county’s Voting Equipment Center in Lauderhill on Thursday morning. Officials expect another 200,000 to go out in the following three days.

With more than 450,000 requests for vote-by-mail ballots so far, Broward voters are shattering the county’s previous record. In the 2016 general election, the county mailed out just over 291,000 such ballots.

This year’s number will continue to grow: Florida’s deadline to request a mail ballot is Oct. 24 at 5 p.m.

Across South Florida, mail voters will have alternatives to the USPS amid concerns about cuts to the agency and delayed delivery times.

In Broward, 24-hour drop boxes are already set up at the county’s two elections offices: one at the Voting Equipment Center at 1501 Northwest 40th Ave. in Lauderhill, and another at the elections office at 115 South Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Those will remain open until 7 p.m. on Nov. 3.

During the early voting period from Oct. 19 to Nov. 1, each of the 22 early voting sites in Broward County where voters can cast ballots in person will also have mail ballot drop boxes available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ballots sent through USPS must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Mail ballots around South Florida

Like Broward, Palm Beach County will begin sending out domestic mail ballots Thursday, according to supervisor of elections Wendy Link.

Miami-Dade County, however, will wait to start sending those ballots until Oct. 1, the last day of a seven-day window to do so. That has been the county’s standard practice in recent election cycles.

“We mail voters their ballot more than 30 days prior to the election,” Miami-Dade deputy supervisor of elections Suzy Trutie said. “This gives each voter time to research the candidates and issues, vote and return their [vote-by-mail] ballot prior to the deadline of 7 p.m. on Election Day.”

Miami-Dade will have drop boxes set up at its 33 early voting sites during the early voting period, and at four additional locations on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.