Florida Secretary of State Announces Polls Open Statewide & Shares County Updates

Tallahassee –

This morning, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner issued the following statement and shared information with Florida voters for the General Election.

“As the Chief Election Officer for the State of Florida, I’m pleased to announce that all polls opened on time statewide and voters are currently casting ballots in 5,836 precincts across the state,” said Secretary of State Ken Detzner. “Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will be open until 7 p.m., local time.  Voters in line at 7 p.m. will be permitted to vote. 

“As we do with every election we have staff communicating with each county’s Supervisor of Elections throughout the day and ready to provide assistance should it be requested. The early voting process in Florida went smoothly. As of this morning, reports from the counties show that 3,874,929 voters voted early at the polls and that 2,636,783 vote-by-mail ballots have been cast. This represents a turnout of more than 50 percent before Election Day voting had even begun.”

UPDATES

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE: The Division of Elections is in communication with the United States Postal Service to ensure all returned vote-by-mail ballots that can be delivered are received by Supervisors of Elections offices by poll closing at 7 p.m. local time.

SECURITY: The Department is monitoring security statewide. At this time there are no reported issues.

TURNOUT: Counties are reporting continued strong voter turnout. For Election Day turnout numbers, please contact the respective county Supervisor of Elections offices. For early voting and vote-by-mail statistics, please visit the Division of Elections Vote-by-Mail Request and Early Voting Reports website.

DUVAL COUNTY: An issue at a polling site in Springfield (Westside Church of Christ on 8th St.) has been resolved by the Supervisor of Elections office. A voting machine that was plugged into a dead outlet resulted in a minor delay of ballots being tabulated, and some ballots were placed in an emergency bin. All voters were able to vote and cast their ballots. The voting machine is now fully operational and Division of Elections staff continue to monitor the situation.

ELECTION DAY INFORMATION FOR VOTERS

ELECTION DAY VOTING: Today polls are open statewide from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. local time. Any voters waiting in line at 7:00 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.  If you need to know the location of your polling place, contact your county Supervisor of Elections. You can also find your precinct and polling place on your county Supervisor of Elections' website or by using the Check Your Voter Status webpage.

ID REQUIREMENTS AT THE POLLS: In accordance with Florida Statutes, voters will be asked to provide a valid photo ID with signature at the polls. If the photo ID does not contain a signature, voters will be asked to provide another ID that has a signature. A voter who does not have an acceptable ID can still vote using a provisional ballot. In 2016, the Florida Legislature added 3 new categories of acceptable forms of IDs (chapter 2016-167, Laws of Florida) bringing the total number of acceptable forms of photo IDs to 12. The 12 forms of ID accepted are:

• Florida driver’s license
• Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
• United States passport
• Debit or credit card
• Military identification
• Student identification
• Retirement center identification
• Neighborhood association identification
• Public assistance identification
• Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
• License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06
• Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.

RESOURCES FOR VOTERS: The Department of State’s Division of Elections offers several resources to voters online at YourVoteFlorida.com, including links to find your polling place. The website is also available in a Spanish version: YourVoteFlorida.com en Español. Voters can also contact you’re their local Supervisor of Elections office  and/or call the State’s Voter Assistance Hotline at 1.866.308.6739, which is available in both English and Spanish. Voters who are hearing or speech impaired may contact the Division of Elections using the Florida Relay Service at 1.800.955.8771 (TDD) or 1.800.955.8770 (Voice).

ELECTION RESULTS & STATISTICS

PRELIMINARY ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS: Beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight, preliminary election results for the General Election will be available on the Florida Election Watch website, enight.elections.myflorida.com. Please be aware that while Florida polls close at 7 p.m., Florida has two time zones. Voting will not be completed statewide until 7 p.m. Central/8 p.m. Eastern. Election results will be published on the Florida Election Watch website after 8 p.m. Eastern. Official returns for the General Election are due to the Department of State from county canvassing boards no later than noon on November 20.

EARLY VOTING AND VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT STATISTICS: The Division of Elections is providing daily early voting and vote-by-mail ballot statistics based on county reports last filed by the Supervisor of Elections for that county. To access these statistics, please visit the Division of Elections’ Vote-by-Mail Request & Early Voting Statistics webpage.

VOTER REGISTRATION STATISTICS: On October 18, 2016, voter registration books closed for the General Election. The Division of Elections prepares detailed statistical reports on the number of active registered voters as of the day of bookclosing. The reports are available in Excel and PDF format, and include a breakdown of voter registration by county and additional parameters. To access these bookclosing reports, please visit the Division of Elections’ website.