TAMPA, Fla — Millions of Floridians are expected to vote early or by mail in the state’s upcoming primary election.
But with two weeks to go until the March 17 contest, there’s a good chance the candidate you voted for or intended to support might no longer be in the race.
However if you already submitted your ballot and were hoping to change your vote, you’re out of luck.
"Once you've voted that ballot, you have cast your vote, there's no second chance,” said Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer, adding nearly 80,000 ballots have already been submitted in Hillsborough alone.
"In Florida, it's a secret ballot, so it's not like we can go into a pile of what we already got back that are waiting to be processed and figure out which ballot is yours.”
If you’ve marked your vote-by-mail ballot but haven’t yet submitted it, you can get a new one or cast your ballot at an early voting site, Latimer said.
The ballot itself, however, never changes even as candidates suspend their campaigns.
“People are going to see a long list on the Democratic side, they’re going to see a shorter list on the Republican side,” he said. “You’re going to see the exact same ballot if you would’ve gotten a vote-by-mail ballot overseas 45 days before the election that you’re going to see on Election Day.”
While it’s the Democrats this year, this dilemma has impacted Republicans in elections’ past.
In 2016, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush bowed out of the race before his home state primary. Similarly in 2012, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out just days before Florida’s primary.
Whether you want to hold off from casting your ballot or chance it before Florida’s primary, Latimer says there’s no right answer.
"That's the voter's option,” he said. “If the voter knows who they want to vote for and they feel confident they can do it, plain and simple."
March 7 is the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot. Early voting ends on March 15.
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