Primary Day: What you need to know about voting in Brevard
After months of intense campaigning, it all comes down to 12 hours today.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today for Brevard County's primary elections. And within hours after polls close, we should know who emerged as winners and losers.
About half of the voters likely to vote in the primary already have cast their ballots, through either in-person early voting or vote-by-mail voting.
Here's what you need to know for primary day in Brevard County:
What are the rules about voting in a primary?
Because Florida is a closed-primary state, only registered Republicans can vote in a Republican primary and only registered Democrats can vote in a Democratic primary.
All registered voters can vote in nonpartisan primaries, such as for Brevard School Board, judge races, and municipal races for mayor and council seats.
Most of the partisan primaries in Brevard County are Republican.
How many polling places are there?
There are 89 polling places, and they handle 162 election precincts. Some polling places handle two or more precincts.
How many people will be working on primary day?
There will be 938 primary day workers.
What should voters know about the voting process?
"On Election Day, it is important for voters to know they must vote in their precinct-specific polling location," Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic said.
They can find this information on VoteBrevard.gov under “Find Your Precinct,” printed on their sample ballot, or on their voter information card.
What do voters need to bring to the polling place?
When going to vote, they need to bring a valid and current signature and photo ID, such as a driver's license or a passport.
All the legal forms of identification can be found on VoteBrevard.gov.
What are the nonpartisan primaries that all registered voters can vote in?
Brevard School Board (Districts 3 and 4); 18th Judicial Circuit judge (Group 17); Brevard County judge (Groups 6 and 10); Palm Bay mayor; Palm Bay City Council (Seats 2 and 3); Titusville mayor.
What are the Republican primaries that only Republicans can vote in?
U.S. senator; U.S. representative (District 8); Florida Senate (District 19); Florida House of Representatives (Districts 32 and 33); Brevard County tax collector; Brevard County supervisor of elections; Brevard County Commission (Districts 1, 3 and 5); Republican state committeeman and state committeewoman; several Republican precinct committeeman and committeewoman positions.
What are the Democratic primaries that only Democrats can vote in?
U.S. senator; U.S. representative (District 8); Florida House of Representatives (District 33); several Democratic precinct committeeman and committeewoman positions.
Will any races be decided in the primary?
School board and judicial races will be decided if a candidate takes more than 50% of the vote. If not, the top two voter-getters will meet in a runoff on Election Day in November.
Mayoral races in Palm Bay and Titusville and two races for Palm Bay City Council seats also could be decided, barring a runoff.
Republican and Democratic state and precinct committee position will be decided in the primary.
Also being decided, for all practical purposes, will be countywide races for Brevard County supervisor of elections and Brevard County tax collector. The Republican primary winners will face only write-in candidates in the Nov. 5 general election.
What's this about runoffs?
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in nonpartisan races with three or more candidates, there will a runoff election on Nov. 5 between the top two vote-getters.
Affected races include Brevard School Board (District 4); Brevard County judge (Group 6); Palm Bay mayor; Palm Bay City Council (Seats 2 and 3); Titusville mayor.
What is the expected voter turnout for the primary?
Bobanic said turnout for even-year local primary elections typically is 25% to 35% of registered voters.
How many people are eligible to vote in the primary?
There were 430,721 registered voters in Brevard County as of the book-closing date.
That includes 194,533 Republicans; 113,904 Democrats; 107,699 "no party affiliation" voters; and 14,585 members of minor political parties.
How many people have voted so far in the primary election?
As of Tuesday morning, 14.76% of eligible voters have voted in the primary, including 23,221 during eight days of early voting and 40,327 during vote-by-mail balloting.
Is it too late to register to vote or change political party affiliation in time for the primary?
It's too late. The "book-closing" date for the primary was July 22.
How can voters speed up the process at the polls?
Bobanic said, to expedite their voting experience, voters are encouraged to bring their pre-marked sample ballot with them into the voting booth.
What if they have mail ballots they haven't sent in yet?
Mail ballot voters need to remember their voted ballot must be in the supervisor of elections office by 7 p.m. today in order to be counted. They can be dropped off at one of the four supervisor of elections offices during business hours.
These are the office locations:
Melbourne: 1515 Sarno Road, Building A.
Palm Bay: 450 Cogan Drive SE.
Titusville: 400 South St., Suite 1F.
Viera: 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building C, Suite 105.
Where can I find election results?
FLORIDA TODAY will have live results as soon as Brevard Supervisor of Elections Office starts posting them, which is usually shortly after the polls close at 7 p.m.
Here's the link to our 2024 Primary results page in case you want to bookmark it now. Here's the url: https://www.floridatoday.com/elections/results/local/
There also will be stories on the races online after the polls close.
Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at [email protected], on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: What need to know about voting in Brevard County's primary election.
