Here’s your complete voting guide

After all the mailers and TV and radio ads, the time is finally upon us — early voting begins through most of South Florida on Monday, leading up to the big day on Aug. 28.

Democrats and Republicans face serious choices in almost all the statewide elections.

To participate in the primary election, you need to have registered to vote by July 30. If you haven’t done so, you’re out of luck, but you should still register because you can still vote in the general election in November. The deadline to register for the general election is Oct. 9.

Here’s everything you need to know to participate.

Where to go

For early voting, it doesn’t matter which location you go to, as long as it’s within your own county. There are 20 early voting locations in MiamiDade, 21 in Broward and 15 in Palm Beach County.

If you wait until election day, you’ll have to vote at your precinct location. Each supervisor of elections office has its own precinct lookup tool on its website, but the organization HeadCount, which registers people to vote at concerts, has an online precinct lookup that works for almost anyone in the country.

When to go

Early voting begins in Palm Beach and MiamiDade counties Aug. 13, with Broward County starting Aug. 18. In all three counties, the last day for early voting is Aug. 26. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, early voting stations are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Miami-Dade County has a staggered schedule, as follows: ■ Aug. 13 to 17: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

■ Aug. 18 and 19: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

■ Aug. 20 to 24: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

■ Aug. 25 and 26: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On election day, polls are open across Florida 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you’re in line to vote by the time the polls close, you can still cast your ballot.

What to bring

Take a current ID with a photo and signature line to your polling place. If you’ve received your sample ballot in the mail, it’s a good idea to fill it out and bring it in to your polling place so you can get in and out quickly.

Who is on the ballot

There are primary election races on the Democratic and Republican sides for three of the four statewide offices — governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner. (Only one Republican and Democrat are running for the fourth position, chief financial officer.) Both Democrats and Republicans also have numerous state legislative primaries to consider.

And voters with no party affiliation aren’t left out of primaries — many local races are nonpartisan and are decided on primary election day. These are open to all voters. And because of Florida’s law on primaries, a few partisan races are also open to all voters. If only members of one party are running for an office, under Florida law, that primary is open to all voters. Throughout South Florida, one state Senate race and five state House races feature only Democrats running, opening those races to independent and Republican voters.

The Sun Sentinel has covered most state and local elections and those stories are gathered here. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, whose writers are separate from the news team, has also made endorsements, which can be seen here.

Pros and cons of early voting

The upside to early voting is the ability to get to a polling place at your convenience, including on weekends for those who can’t afford to stand in line during working hours. Early voters also usually avoid the long lines that typically plague election day voting locations, though peak voting hours during the early voting period can also be hectic.

On the downside, new information about candidates can sometimes come in just before an election. Once you’ve voted, you can’t go back and change your vote, so if new information comes to light and you no longer support the candidates you voted for, you’re stuck with them.

If you already requested a mail-in ballot but would prefer to vote in person, you can still do so. Just take your mail-in ballot to the polling place so poll workers can cancel it.

How votes are counted

Early and mail-in votes are counted ahead of election day, with the exception of mail-in ballots that are received on that day. The results are posted soon after polls close at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28. Almost 2.5 million mail-in ballots were sent out for this year’s primary election, and as of Aug. 9, more than 450,000 of them had already been returned. According to the Florida Department of State, about 181,000 more mail-in ballots were sent out this year than in the 2016 primary election — a presidential election year that saw far greater voter turnout than a typical midterm.