ORLANDO, Fla. – 2023 is an off-year for politics in Florida but we still have elections, and thousands of people are eligible to go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
If you want to vote in these elections, you need to make sure you are registered to vote by Tuesday, Oct. 10
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A dozen cities and towns in Brevard, Lake, Orange and Seminole counties all have elections that day, including the city of Orlando mayoral race.
In addition, some voters in Orange and Osceola counties will go to the polls to choose candidates in party primaries for Florida House District 35.
Here’s what you need to know.
Elections by county
ORANGE COUNTY
ORLANDO
First up is probably the biggest one — voters will decide on Orlando’s mayor and two city council seats.
Buddy Dyer is running for a sixth term in the mayor’s office. He faces three opponents: Steve Dixon, Sam Ings and Tony Vargas.
For seat 4 Orlando city commissioner, incumbent Patty Sheehan faces two opponents: Randy Ross and Katie Koch.
For seat 6 Orlando city commissioner, incumbent Bakari Burns faces one challenger: Rufus Hawkins.
Seat 2 Commissioner Tony Ortiz was reelected without opposition.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for this election is Oct. 26.
Early voting runs Oct. 28 through Nov. 5.
To find out if you are eligible to vote in the Orlando elections, and where you vote, head to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website.
You can check your registration information, request a vote-by-mail ballot or find your polling place there.
BREVARD COUNTY
There are elections happening in Cape Canaveral, Indian Harbour Beach, Melbourne Beach and Rockledge.
Cape Canaveral residents are voting to fill two seats on the city council, and there are three candidates to choose from: Kay Lyn Jackson, Steven Stroud, and incumbent Don Willis.
Indian Harbour Beach residents are also looking to fill two seats on the city council. For seat 1 there are three candidates: Adam Dyer, David Nutt and Douglas Torpy. For seat 3 there are two candidates: Hamilton Boone and Susan Ruimy.
Residents in the Town of Melbourne Beach are electing a mayor and a commissioner. The candidates for mayor are Joyce Barton and Alison Dennington, and the candidates for commissioner are Jason Judge and Adam Meyer.
In Rockledge, voters will pick a commissioner for seat 3 from candidates incumbent Sammie Brown Martin and challenger Josiah Gattle. Rockledge Mayor Thomas Price and Deputy Mayor Frank Forester both drew no challengers and were therefore reelected without opposition.
Elections in Indialantic, Malabar, Melbourne Village and Palm Shores were also decided without opposition.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for this election is Oct. 26.
To find out if you are eligible to vote in any of these elections, and where you vote, head to the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections website.
You can check your registration information, request a vote-by-mail ballot or find your polling place there.
LAKE COUNTY
Five cities in Lake County are holding elections on Nov. 7.
Clermont is looking to fill seat 4 on its city council, with candidates Max Krzyminski and Chandra Myers running for office. There is also an ordinance on the ballot that would change the terms in office for city council members.
The Town of Lady Lake is holding an election for Ward 5 on the commission. Incumbent Jim Rietz and Mike Sage are running for the seat.
Voters in Mascotte will choose a candidate for seat 5 on the city council. Incumbent Randy Brasher is running against Sharee Hodge.
Three Minneola city council seats are up for election. In seat 1, incumbent Pam Serviss is going up against Monica Luna. In seat 3, incumbent Pat Kelley is facing Nathan Focht. In seat 5, incumbent Joseph Saunders faces challengers Juana Delacruz and Kelly Price.
There are also two ballot questions for Minneola voters, both of which change the terms in office for city council members.
In Tavares, incumbent councilmember Sandy Gamble is running for reelection to seat 2 on the city council against challenger Doug Keown.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for this election is Oct. 26.
To find out if you are eligible to vote in any of these elections, and where you vote, head to the Lake County Supervisor of Elections website.
You can check your registration information, request a vote-by-mail ballot or find your polling place there.
SEMINOLE COUNTY
The cities of Oviedo and Lake Mary are having elections on Nov. 7.
In Oviedo, incumbent mayor Megan Sladek faces two challengers: Brady Duke and Judith Dolores Smith.
In Lake Mary, incumbent city commissioner George Duryea is facing a challenge from Kristina Renteria for Commission Seat 2.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot for this election is Oct. 26.
Seminole County will hold one day of early voting on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
To find out if you are eligible to vote in either of these elections, and where you vote, head to the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections website.
You can check your registration information, request a vote-by-mail ballot or find your polling place there.
FLORIDA HOUSE DISTRICT 35
Fred Hawkins, the state representative for District 35, left his seat earlier this year to become president of a state college in South Florida. That means there’s a special election for his district coming up.
The district encompasses eastern Orange and Osceola counties, and voters in that district will pick Democratic and Republican candidates on Nov. 7. The winners of those party primaries will go onto a general election on Jan. 16.
Florida is a closed primary state. That means only Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary and only Republicans can vote in the Republican primary. If you want to vote in this election, you must change your party affiliation with your supervisor of elections office by Oct. 10.
The candidates running in the Democratic primary are: Rishi Bagga, Marucci Guzman and Tom Keen.
The candidates running in the Republican primary are: Erika Booth, Ken Davenport and Scotty Moore.
For voters in Orange County, early voting runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5. Times and locations are on the Orange County Supervisor of Elections website.
You can check your registration information or change your party affiliation, request a vote-by-mail ballot by Oct. 26 or find your polling place there.
For voters in Osceola County, early voting runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 4. Times and locations are on the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections website, where you can also check your voter registration or change your party affiliation, request a vote-by-mail ballot or find your polling place.
What you need to be eligible to vote
To be eligible to vote in Florida, you must:
- Be a citizen of the United States of America
- Be a legal resident of Florida
- Be a legal resident of the county in which you seek to be registered
- Be at least 16 years old to preregister, or at least 18 years old to register and vote
- Not be a person who has been adjudicated mentally incapacitated with respect to voting in Florida or any other state without having the right to vote restored
- Not be a person convicted of a felony without having your right to vote restored
There are no set rules for what makes a legal resident in Florida. The biggest thing is you must have a home in the state. Also, your home address cannot be a post office box.
How to register
There are a few ways to register to vote in Florida.
Online:
Florida has an online voter registration system. Go to Register to Vote Florida.gov. There you can register to vote, update your voter registration and check to see if you are registered. The site is available in English and in Spanish.
Note, if you do this you must have a Florida driver’s license or Florida identification card that is issued by the state.
In person:
You can also register to vote in person at the following offices:
- At the driver’s license office
- At a public library
- At the Center for Independent Living
- At WIC and DCF offices
- At any supervisor of elections office
You can also print out a copy of the voter registration application and mail it to your county supervisor of elections office.
In order to register on a paper application, you must have:
- A Florida driver’s license or Florida identification card
- OR the last four digits of your Social Security number
What’s the deadline to register to vote?
In order to vote in an election, you must get your voter registration application in 29 days before that election – a deadline known as “book closing.”
- November general election: Oct. 10
What if I’m from another state?
If you are from another state, you need to fill out a new voter registration form for Florida. Your registration does not transfer from one state to the next. You need to make sure you are registered by the date above in order to vote in a Florida election.
What if I’m registered and I want to update my registration (in-state change of address, change party affiliation, etc.)?
Say you need to change your address or you want to change your party affiliation so you can vote in a party primary. If you have a driver’s license, you can do this online at Register to Vote Florida.gov.
You will need a Florida driver’s license or a Florida identification card in order to make those changes, otherwise you will have to download a voter registration application and mail in your changes to your county supervisor of elections office.
All changes to your registration also need to be in by book closing. Those are the dates listed above.
What if I’m registered to vote, but I haven’t voted in a while?
You may be considered an inactive voter. That’s when a voter’s information is not able to be verified, and then an address verification letter is sent to you but is returned as “undeliverable.”
Florida law requires county supervisors of elections to conduct voter maintenance twice a year. So if you haven’t voted in some time, you may find yourself marked as an inactive voter.
To go from being an inactive voter to an active voter, all you have to do is vote or contact your county supervisor of elections office.
If you’re curious if your voter registration is active, you can go to Register to Vote Florida.gov, and look up your registration under “Am I Already Registered?”
What if I’ve been removed from voter rolls by accident?
The Florida Division of Elections says voters are removed from the rolls if they are dead, not a U.S. citizen, not listing a valid Florida registration or have had their voting rights taken away because of a felony conviction or judged to be mentally incapable, or a voter has left the state and Florida election officials have been notified. A voter may also be asked to be removed from the rolls.
If you think you have been removed from the voter rolls by accident, you should contact your county supervisor of elections office immediately and submit a new voter registration application.
How do I request a vote-by-mail ballot?
A voter can request a ballot be mailed to them by contacting their county supervisor of elections office. You can find a list of the county offices in the state on the Florida Division of Elections website.
That request can be:
- Called in
- Made in person at the office
- Mailed, faxed or emailed in. If you do this, you must provide a signed request (in the case of an email, you must scan a signed letter and send it in as an attachment)
All requests must have this information:
- Voter’s full name
- Date of birth
- Address
- The voter’s Florida driver’s license number, identification card number, or last four digits of their social security number
Those identification numbers are required to be on file with the county supervisor of elections office in order to get your VBM ballot request approved.
To do that, you will need to fill out a voter registration form to update the information your county has on file. You can find a list of the county offices in the state on the Florida Division of Elections website.
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