CENTRAL FLORIDA — Thousands of Central Floridians voted by mail in this primary, but for some, those ballots will never be counted because of a deadline misconception. In Florida, a postmark does not count; your mail ballot must be physically received by the Supervisor of Elections office no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Voters who dropped their ballots in a USPS mailbox on Election morning likely missed the cutoff, and under state law, those votes are rejected regardless of when they were mailed.
The consequences of this rule are measurable. During the 2024 primary election, 815 mail ballots arrived late in Orange County and were not counted, while 198 ballots met the same fate in Seminole County. Orange County Supervisor of Elections Public Information Officer Blake Summerlin said the confusion stems from how other states handle mail voting. “That’s not the case in Florida,” Summerlin said. “It has to be physically in one of our offices by 7 p.m. It can’t be postmarked.” Ballots that arrive after the deadline are kept as public record but are excluded from the final tabulation.
Voters like Robert Penoyer used the Orange County drive-thru drop-off specifically to avoid this risk. “I thought that was the case, but I didn’t know for sure,” Penoyer said. “So I just without chancing it, I figured I’d go ahead and drop it off today.” James Daffan made a similar last-minute decision, saying, “No, I was gonna mail in. I just didn’t get up to doing it, so I bring it down today and get it out.”
Elections officials say there are still safe options for voters holding unreturned mail ballots on Election Day. You can drop your ballot off at an elections office or satellite location until 7 p.m., or take it to your assigned polling place, surrender it, and vote in person instead.
State law prohibits simply dropping off a mail ballot at a polling site without voting. Do not use the postal service on Election Day, as any ballot placed in a mailbox will almost certainly arrive too late.
Summerlin also warned that redistricting has changed precinct assignments for nearly every voter in Orange County, so residents should verify their correct polling place using the lookup tool on the Supervisor of Elections website before heading out.
The same receipt deadline applies across all Central Florida counties, and voters should check their respective supervisor of elections websites for approved drop-off locations and hours.
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