Are you ready to vote?
The 2026 primary election is right around the corner, so I want to know — are you ready to vote? You still have time to register to vote, request a vote-by-mail ballot and make changes to your voter information.
Primary Election Dates & Deadlines
- Deadline to register/change party: Monday, July 20.
- Deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot: Thursday, August 6, 5 p.m.
- Votes by mail: Due to our office no later than 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18.
- Early voting: Monday, August 3, through Sunday, August 16, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Election day: Tuesday, August 18, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Call our office at 813-744-5900 or visit our website and use the Voter Information Lookup tool at www.votehillsborough.gov to check your status and make any updates.
The deadline for candidates to qualify for the ballot was June 12. Visit the Local Candidates & Committees page of our website to see local candidates who qualified with our office, and the Candidates and Races database on the Division of Elections website at https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/candidates/ to see who qualified with them. Sample ballots showing the races that will be on your primary election ballot will be available on our website next month.
Understanding Primaries
During the primary, political parties nominate state and local candidates to move on to the general election. The races that appear on your ballot depend on where you live and what party you belong to.
Florida has closed primaries, which means that you must be registered with a political party to vote in that party’s primary races. However, the primary election will also include nonpartisan contests that everybody votes on, whether affiliated with a party or not.
There will be three different ballots: a Republican ballot, a Democratic ballot and a nonpartisan ballot. Nonpartisan judicial and school board races will be on everyone’s ballot, and voters in State Senate District 16, State House District 62 and State House District 63 will have a Universal Primary Contest on their ballot. Universal Primary Contests occur when all candidates for a seat have the same party affiliation and the winner would be unopposed in the general election.
Voters living in Temple Terrace and some special taxing districts will also have a referendum on the ballot.
Take a look at this quick video that explains Florida’s closed primaries: https://vimeo.com/676448886.
Legislative Updates For 2026 — What’s Changed?
You may live in a different congressional district because the legislature changed the district boundaries this year. Those changes affect which candidates will be on your ballot. We’re sending new voter information cards to all voters so you can see all of your voting districts at a glance.
What Hasn’t Changed?
Florida’s voter registration and voting ID requirements haven’t changed for the 2026 election. If you plan to vote in person, go to www.votehillsborough.gov and search “What to Bring” to find the list of acceptable ID.
The Last Word
Your signature can change over time — and the signature on file is used to verify your identity on vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots and petitions. Call us at 813-744-5900, go to www.votehillsborough.gov or visit any of our offices or public libraries to get a voter registration application (https://registertovoteflorida.gov/home) and update your signature so that you are #ElectionReady for 2026.