The Supervisors of Elections (SOEs) from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade counties came together Wednesday to share election plans and jointly inform the public about impending voting deadlines.
At a first-ever joint press conference, the three supervisors urged voters to check their registration status ahead of the Oct. 5 deadline to ensure they can vote in this year's midterm election.
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Because of recent changes in Florida law, a voter's registration may be expired due to inactivity. Additionally, recent electoral redistricting means a voter's polling place may have changed.
As the Oct. 22 deadline to request a mail-in ballot approaches, the supervisors noted that vote-by-mail requests were down this primary election cycle when compared to the midterm primaries in 2022.
Broward County saw vote-by-mail requests drop from about 136,000 in 2022 to 78,000 this year. The change is even more dramatic in Palm Beach County, which saw 355,000 mail-in ballot requests in 2022 and 146,000 in 2026.
The SOE's attribute this shift to the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people did not want to vote in-person during that time. Florida's rules around vote-by-mail have also changed since that time, and now voters must request that a vote-by-mail ballot be sent to them and renew that request every two years.
" You may have not only a different congressional district, but you may also have a new polling location. So please, every voter, if you're planning to vote on Election Day, make sure that you are checking that either voter information card, the website or calling our offices," said Palm Beach County SOE Wendy Sartory Link.
Resources to check your voter status in Palm Beach County, Broward and Miami-Dade can be found here.
While voters must go to their assigned polling location on Election Day, they can visit any polling location in their county if they participate in early voting.
Sartory Link also shared her office's new system for early voting that allows voters to set up appointments in advance to expedite the ballot process.
"A voter has the opportunity to make an appointment to vote, whether it's because somebody's elderly or they have a disability or can't afford to be gone for an hour or two hours to stand in line, and we guarantee that they will be in in less than 15 minutes," she said.
Broward and Miami-Dade said they'd be interested in copying the system if it proves successful in this election cycle.
The supervisors said they've heard from voters who are afraid of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence at the polls, but claim they are not expecting any issues.
"I don't see why ICE would come. It's a very bad place to find illegal immigrants. The people coming to vote are all gonna be US citizens," said Broward SOE Joe Scott.
Alina Garcia, Miami-Dade's SOE, added that no ICE officers were at the polls during the primary election, so she does not expect their presence in November.
