Election 2024: Voting has started in Lee for Florida's presidential primary. What to know.

Fort Myers News-Press
Updated ·3 min read

Voting for a preferred Republican U.S. presidential nominee has started in Lee County.

If you're a Republican registered in Lee and you requested a mail ballot, be on the lookout. The Lee County Supervisor of Elections office began mailing approximately 53,000 vote-by-mail ballots last week for Florida's Presidential Preference Primary.

Here's what you need to know about voting in the March 19 election:

Who votes in the presidential preference primary?

Only registered Republicans are voting this time around. In the presidential preference primary, members of the major political parties ‒ Democrats and Republicans – choose the candidate they want to represent them in the November general election.

“There will be no Democratic ballot and no NPA (no party affiliation) items to vote on” said Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle.

The Florida Democratic Party chose President Joe Biden as its only candidate, so there will be no presidential preference ballot for voters registered as Democrats.

There are 223,300-plus registered Republicans in Lee County.

Multiple Republican presidential candidates are on the ballot, although many of them have dropped out of the race.

If you want to vote by mail, you can still get a ballot mailed to you

Voters who have not submitted a vote-by-mail request to the Lee County Supervisor of Elections since the 2022 general election must submit a new request to receive a vote-by-mail ballot for the 2024 elections.

Requests can be made by calling (239) 533-8683 or online at www.lee.vote.

The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for the presidential primary is 5 p.m. Thursday, March 7.

Returning your ballot to the elections office

Once requested, voters can track their vote-by-mail ballot using BallotTrax. This free service provides notifications to voters on the status of their ballot via text, phone, and email.

The deadline to return a vote-by-mail ballot is 7 p.m. Election Day, Tuesday March 19.

Hand-delivered ballots may be dropped off at one of the Lee County Elections’ offices, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or on Election Day, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The offices are:

  • Bonita Springs Branch Office, 25987 S Tamiami Trail, #105, Bonita Springs, 34134

  • Cape Coral Branch Office, Commissioner John E. Manning Lee County Government Center, 1039 SE 9th Avenue, Suite 100, Cape Coral, 33990

  • Lee County Elections Center, 13180 S Cleveland Avenue, Fort Myers, 33907

  • Lehigh Acres Branch Office, 600 Homestead Road S #9, Lehigh Acres, 33974

  • Main Office, Melvin Morgan Constitutional Complex, 2480 Thompson Street, 3rd Floor, Fort Myers, 33901

Rather vote in person? Choose early voting or cast your ballot on Election Day

Voters who prefer to go to the polls can either vote early at one of 12 Lee County early voting sites or go to their assigned precinct on Election Day.

Early voting is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from Saturday, March 9 through Saturday, March 16.

Find your precinct location at www.lee.vote.

Hurry! The deadline is Tuesday to register or change your party

To register or change your registration, go the Lee Supervisor of Elections website, www.lee.vote.

The deadline to register or change party affiliation to vote in the presidential preference primary is Tuesday, Feb. 20, 29 days before Election Day.

“(Voters) need to make sure that they check their registration and the party they thought they were registered in," Doyle said. "We have situations every primary where people go to vote and think they’re Republican and they’re not registered Republican.

"Most of the time they are registered NPAs and thought they could vote in it and they’re not Republicans. If they want to register in that Republican (presidential) race they want to make sure they are Republican.”

The News-Press and Naples Daily News reporter Bill Smith and USA TODAY Network journalist Cheryl McCloud contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Election 2024 Lee County Florida presidential preference primary voting