Florida's August 18 Primary Nears With Early Voting Set to Open Saturday

Florida voters head into the final stretch before the state's August 18 primary election, with early voting scheduled to open Saturday, August 8, and run through Sunday, August 16 in most counties. It is the first statewide election of a cycle in which Floridians will choose a new governor, fill a United States Senate seat, and nominate candidates in all 28 congressional districts, every seat in the Florida House and half the Florida Senate. Governor Ron DeSantis is term-limited and cannot seek a third consecutive term, which makes this the first genuinely open race for the state's highest office since 2018.

What is on the ballot

The marquee contest is the race to succeed DeSantis. Republican U.S. Representative Byron Donalds has led his party's primary field in polling and fundraising, having raised nearly $10.2 million across his campaign account and political committee over roughly three months. Former Republican congressman David Jolly, who changed his registration to Democrat in April 2025, has led on the Democratic side while raising about $1 million over a comparable period, a roughly tenfold disparity in resources.

Polling on a hypothetical general election matchup has been inconsistent. A University of North Florida survey showed Donalds ahead of Jolly 46 percent to 41 percent, while other 2026 polling has shown Jolly with a narrow edge among registered voters. Those are different populations and different methodologies, and neither should be read as a settled picture more than three months out. Florida has trended Republican in recent statewide elections, but open-seat gubernatorial races historically produce closer margins than reelection contests.

A United States Senate seat is also on the ballot through a special election, alongside most statewide cabinet offices including attorney general, chief financial officer and commissioner of agriculture. Many counties will additionally decide nonpartisan races, including school board seats, judicial contests and county commission races, and those appear on every voter's ballot regardless of party registration.

How Florida's closed primary works

Florida runs a closed primary system. Only voters registered with a political party may vote in that party's primary contests. Voters registered without party affiliation, and those registered with a party other than the one holding a given primary, do not receive those partisan races on their ballot. Florida's share of voters registered without party affiliation has grown substantially over the past two decades, which means a significant portion of the electorate is excluded from the decisions made on August 18.

The registration deadline to change party affiliation for this election has already passed. Voters had to be identified with a party by July 20 to participate in that party's August 18 primary. Voters who missed that deadline can still cast a ballot, but only in the nonpartisan contests appearing in their precinct, and in any universal primary contests on their ballot.

There is one important exception built into the Florida Constitution. When all candidates for an office share the same party affiliation and the winner will face no opposition in the general election, that primary becomes a universal primary contest open to all registered voters regardless of party. Whether that applies to any given race depends on the final qualifying field, including whether write-in candidates filed, since a qualified write-in candidate closes the primary.

Early voting, vote by mail and Election Day

Early voting runs August 8 through August 16, though counties have some discretion in setting additional days and hours beyond the state-mandated minimum. Supervisors of elections publish site lists and schedules on their county websites, and a voter may use any early voting site in the county where they are registered rather than being tied to a home precinct, which makes early voting the more flexible option for anyone with an unpredictable schedule.

Vote by mail requests must be on file with the county supervisor of elections, and Florida law requires voters to renew those requests periodically rather than treating them as permanent standing orders. Returned ballots must be received by the supervisor's office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. A ballot postmarked on time but arriving late is not counted, which makes drop-off at a supervisor's office or designated secure location the safer option in the final days before the election.

Voters returning a mail ballot should ensure the signature on the envelope matches the signature on file, since signature mismatches are the leading cause of rejected mail ballots in Florida. Supervisors are required to notify voters of a defect and provide an opportunity to cure it, but that process depends on the voter being reachable and responding before the deadline.

On August 18, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. Voters in line at 7 p.m. are entitled to cast a ballot. Election Day voting is precinct-based, so voters must go to their assigned polling place rather than any location in the county, and Florida requires photo and signature identification at the polls.

The issues shaping the campaign

Several policy fights have surfaced in the closing weeks. Surveillance cameras made by Flock Safety have become an unexpected cross-party flashpoint, with Republican and Democratic frontrunners alike calling for new limits on automated license plate readers after a run of county and city votes to pause or defund the programs, including a unanimous vote by Leon County commissioners in July.

Property taxes are also in play, though not on the primary ballot. Amendment 3, which would raise the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $250,000 over two years, appears on the November general election ballot and drew a statement of significant concern this week from the Florida Sheriffs Association, joined by police and firefighter organizations warning about effects on response times and local budgets.

Space policy has emerged as a distinctive Florida issue as well, with Donalds and U.S. Senator Ashley Moody promoting an initiative to relocate NASA headquarters from Washington to Brevard County ahead of the agency's 2028 lease expiration. Housing costs, property insurance premiums and immigration enforcement have featured across both primaries.

Down-ballot races that matter

Legislative primaries will determine much of the composition of the next Florida Legislature. All 120 seats in the Florida House and 20 of 40 seats in the Florida Senate are up, and in districts that lean strongly toward one party, the August primary effectively decides the general election outcome months in advance.

School board races are nonpartisan under Florida law and appear on every voter's ballot. Those contests have drawn substantial outside spending in recent cycles, and the boards they fill make decisions on curriculum, library materials, school start times, budgets and superintendent hiring that affect families directly.

Judicial races and county commission contests round out the local portion of the ballot. County commissions set millage rates and adopt budgets, which makes them the bodies that would absorb the revenue impact if Amendment 3 passes in November. Voters concerned about that measure have a direct interest in who wins those seats.

What it means for Floridians

Turnout in Florida primaries is historically far below general election levels, frequently falling under 30 percent of registered voters. That magnifies the influence of each vote cast. In legislative and county races in particular, a primary can effectively decide the outcome when a district leans heavily toward one party and the general election is not competitive.

Voters unsure of their registration status, party affiliation, precinct assignment or vote by mail status can verify all of it through their county supervisor of elections, and the Florida Division of Elections maintains a statewide voter information lookup. Sample ballots are typically posted online ahead of early voting and are worth reviewing, since down-ballot judicial and school board contests often involve candidates with limited public profiles and little media coverage.

Nonpartisan races deserve particular attention this cycle. Because they are open to all voters regardless of registration, they represent the one part of the August ballot where voters registered without party affiliation have a full voice.

The Senate special election

Florida voters will also be selecting nominees for a United States Senate seat through a special election. The seat became vacant when Marco Rubio was confirmed as Secretary of State in January 2025, and Governor DeSantis appointed then-Attorney General Ashley Moody to fill it.

Special elections for appointed Senate seats carry different dynamics than regularly scheduled contests. An appointed incumbent has the advantages of office without having faced voters statewide for that position, and challengers frequently argue that the appointment process itself is a reason to seek a different choice.

The Senate contest sharing a ballot with an open governor's race concentrates statewide attention and spending in a way Florida has not seen in a single cycle for some time. Both parties will be allocating resources across two top-of-ticket races simultaneously.

What turnout will look like

August primaries in Florida historically draw a fraction of general election participation, and the electorate that shows up skews older, more partisan and more consistently engaged than the November electorate. Campaigns build their strategies around that composition rather than around the broader voter file.

Vote by mail has changed the shape of turnout without necessarily increasing it. A substantial share of primary ballots are now cast before Election Day, which means campaigns front-load their messaging and that late developments have less capacity to move outcomes than they once did.

Counties differ substantially in turnout patterns. Rural counties with contested local races frequently outperform large urban counties in percentage terms, since a competitive sheriff or commission race generates more local motivation than a statewide contest decided elsewhere.

What's next

Results will begin posting after polls close on August 18, with vote by mail and early voting totals generally reported first, followed by Election Day precinct returns. Florida counties are permitted to begin canvassing mail ballots before Election Day, which typically produces relatively fast initial reporting compared with some other states.

Races decided by a narrow margin may trigger Florida's automatic recount provisions. A machine recount is required when the margin is one half of one percent or less, and a manual recount of overvotes and undervotes follows when the margin is one quarter of one percent or less. County canvassing boards then certify results before the state canvassing commission certifies statewide totals.

The nominees who emerge on August 18 will move into a general election campaign that runs through November, sharing the ballot with Amendment 3 and the rest of the proposed constitutional amendments. The Florida Press will continue covering the primary through Election Day and into the certification process.