With early voting ending Sunday, Broward’s elections chief is urging voters not to mail completed ballots this late in the election. The concern is reported delivery delays, not a confirmed systemwide USPS failure, and Florida’s deadline leaves little room for a ballot to arrive late.
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott is urging voters with completed vote-by-mail ballots to deliver them in person or vote in person rather than put them in the mail with Election Day approaching.
Scott told WSVN, in a report carried by WLRN on Oct. 28, that some ballots mailed locally in Broward had taken up to two weeks to reach his office. “Which is totally unacceptable,” he said.
The warning comes during the final weekend of early voting. Broward’s official schedule lists early voting through Sunday, Nov. 1, with sites open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For voters in Broward, from coastal neighborhoods to communities near the Everglades, the practical takeaway is simple: if you still have a ballot to return, check your options now rather than assume the mail will get it there in time.
What Broward voters should do now
If your completed ballot is still with you: Broward Supervisor of Elections recommends using an authorized secure ballot intake station or voting in person. You can also vote at your assigned precinct on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Use the county’s early voting and ballot-return page to find locations, hours and a locator for early voting sites and secure ballot intake stations. The county lists 30 early voting locations. Check the details before heading out, since ballot drop-off locations and voting locations are not automatically interchangeable.
If you already mailed your ballot: Check its status using Broward’s official voter information lookup. The tool allows voters to check the status of a mail ballot. If the status is unclear or the ballot does not appear as received, contact the Supervisor of Elections office promptly for guidance.
If you requested a mail ballot but want to vote in person: Broward says you can change plans. Its vote-by-mail information page says voters who decide to vote in person should bring their mail ballot so a poll worker can cancel it. Scott told WLRN that safeguards ensure a voter who switches to in-person voting is counted only once.
Why the deadline matters
Florida’s deadline is based on when the ballot arrives, not when it is mailed. According to Broward’s election office, a vote-by-mail ballot must reach the Supervisor of Elections or be placed in an authorized secure ballot intake station by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. A postmark by the deadline is not enough; late-arriving ballots are not counted.
Broward’s official guidance also says a ballot cannot be dropped off at a polling place on Election Day, except when a voter is surrendering it to cancel the mail ballot and vote in person. For a return by drop-off, use a secure intake station listed by the county, not an ordinary polling place.
What election officials say about the reported delays
Scott said the reports involve ballots going in both directions: voters waiting to receive requested ballots and completed ballots taking longer to get back to election officials. He told WLRN his son in Orlando waited 12 days for a ballot; an assistant state attorney also reported waiting weeks.
The concern is not limited to Broward. The Washington Post reported Oct. 30 that Monroe County election officials had heard from about 100 voters reporting delays. Monroe Supervisor of Elections Sherri Hodies told NBC6, as quoted by WLRN, that officials did not know whether the problem was happening “on their side or if it is happening on our side.”
There is an important caveat: USPS has disputed that its facilities serving Broward and Monroe are experiencing general processing or delivery delays. The Washington Post reported that the Postal Service said it could not investigate individual cases without reviewing specific pieces of mail and that local postal managers had contacted election officials. WLRN reported USPS was looking into the concerns.
That means the reports from voters and election offices should be taken seriously, while the Postal Service’s response should also be included: the available reporting does not establish a confirmed, systemwide USPS failure. But a voter with a ballot still in hand faces a fixed legal deadline regardless of the cause of a delay.
Not every South Florida county reports the same experience
In Miami-Dade, election officials told WLRN they had not encountered comparable postal delays. The county reported that about 120,000 of roughly 250,000 requested ballots had been returned at the time of the report. That is a snapshot of reported activity, not a guarantee about any individual ballot’s delivery.
For Broward voters, the county’s tracking tool is the way to confirm whether a ballot has been received. For Monroe voters, check with the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections for local ballot-status and return instructions.
Final weekend checklist
- Early vote by Sunday, Nov. 1. Broward sites are scheduled to be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check the county’s official site and locator before you go.
- Use an authorized secure ballot intake station if you are returning a completed vote-by-mail ballot in person. Verify the correct location and hours with Broward.
- Check the status of a ballot already mailed through the county’s voter lookup.
- If you switch to in-person voting, take your mail ballot with you so election staff can cancel it, as Broward’s official vote-by-mail guidance instructs.
- Remember the final deadline: the ballot must be received by 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3-not merely postmarked by then.
For the latest local election information, follow updates from South Florida Digest and verify voting details directly with your county elections office. The final weekend is the time to confirm your plan, and make sure your ballot reaches the right place.
