To help inform your decision-making progress, here are some simple voting tips, plus links to quick-and-dirty CL recommendations for races and referendums in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. For deeper explanations on the races, click here.
Early voting
The best option is early voting, which is on right now in both Hillsborough (26 locations) and Pinellas Counties (five locations) until Sunday, Nov. 1, from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. every day.
You can vote in person whether or not you have requested a mail-in ballot. In order to vote a regular ballot, voters are required to present both picture and signature identification. Voters who do not bring both types of ID will be required to vote a provisional ballot.
Voting by mail
Believe it or not, you still have time to request a vote-by-mail ballot (the deadline is Oct. 24, 5 p.m.). There are a few ways to return your mail-in ballot, but it must be returned no later than 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The USPS recommends returning your mail-in ballot no later than Tuesday, Oct. 27, a week before election day. If you are voting by mail, please return the ballot right away. Do not wait to return your ballot. If you lose it, go early vote (see above), so you can get a new ballot and vote in person. The USPS recommends returning your mail-in ballot no later than Tuesday, Oct. 27, a week before election day. If the thought of sending your ballot through the mail freaks you out, you can place it in a secure dropbox (all 26 locations in Hillsborough have one; Pinellas has 25 remote ballot drop-off locations, including five drive-thrus).
Voting on election day (why did you wait so long??)
If the most powerful people in America wanted you to vote, they wouldn't have scheduled election day on a Tuesday in November. The concept of "Election Day" itself is a form of voter suppression—along with the whole registration process. But here we are. Election day, your last day to vote: Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. You must vote at your designated precinct if you wait until election day. At 7 p.m. on election day, no more ballots are accepted locally. Postmarks do not count. In order to vote a regular ballot, voters are required to present both picture and signature identification. Voters who do not bring both types of ID will be required to vote a provisional ballot.
See all of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s 2020 recommendations here.
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