Time’s up to mail your ballot; drop it off instead
If you have a mail ballot, it’s too late to use the U.S. Postal Service to deliver it to the elections office. Drop it off instead. Ballots must arrive by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted, and postal officials say they cannot guarantee delivery within a week of the Nov. 3presidential election.
“No Florida voter should put a ballot in the mail at this point because it may not arrive before the deadline,” said Anjenys Gonzalez-Eilert, executive director of Common Cause Florida. “Dropping it off is recommended this close to Election Day.”
If you want to drop off your ballot, you can return it to early-voting sites throughout South Florida when polls are open from7 a.m.-7p.m. Early voting runs through Sunday.
Drop boxes will continue to be available at county election offices on Monday and Election Day. But one thing you should know: Your assigned votingElection Day will not accept mail ballots.
Here are some other questions elections officials have received about mail ballots.
Why isn’t my ballot
listed as counted? If you live in Palm Beach County, the online ballot tracker will show the ballot as “counted” only after the polls close on Election Day. If there is a problem with your ballot, an alert will show up in red. If the ballot is listed as received and there is no red alert, it should showup as counted after the polls close. Some counties are doing this differently and showing the ballots as “counted” before Election Day. Broward is one of those.
What if I change my mind and don’t want to vote by mail? If you haven’t mailed the ballot, bring it with you to the polls and you can vote in person. If you don’t have the ballot, you can still vote in person if it hasn’t been received by the county, said Roberto Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections. That ballot you cast in person will count if your mail ballot shows up later, Rodriguez said. herself holding a ballot and a FedEx envelope. Experts, though, encourage voters to drop off their ballots, rather than risk running afoul of any election laws or rules by sending it via FedEx or UPS, The New York Times reported.
Whatif there is a problem with my ballot? Do not despair. You have until Nov. 5 to fix problems with your ballot, such as amissing or mismatched signature, by submitting a “cure affidavit.” Election officials will send you a letter and try to contact you by email and phone if you provided that information when you delivered your mail ballot.