Florida's 9.8 Million Democrats and Republicans to Vote Tuesday, March 17 for Presidential Preference

Just under 316,000 Polk County residents are eligible to vote Tuesday, March 17 in Florida's Presidential Preference Primary.

As of the Feb. 18 registration deadline, Polk had 160,589 Republicans and 155,335 Democrats. Florida is a closed primary state so those registered as independents or with no party affiliation are not eligible to vote in the primaries, which are held to help major parties select their candidates for president. As of Jan. 31, Florida had 4,793,897 registered Republicans and 5,039,757 registered Democrats, according to the Florida Division of Elections.

Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards said 11,067 Polk voters cast ballots during the early voting period that ended March 14. As of March 9, Polk voters had returned 32,195 of the 56,353 vote by mail ballots sent out – about 47 percent of Democrats (13,580 of 28,592) and 65 percent of Republicans (18,615 of 28,761). Vote by mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. March 17; if not mailed back in time they can be dropped off at election headquarters, 250 S. Broadway Ave. in Bartow or the election operations center, 70 Florida Citrus Blvd. in Winter Haven.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17. Polk County has 167 precincts, and people who have moved must vote in their new precinct. To look up and confirm your polling place, go to https://www.polkelections.com/Voter-Services/Where-Do-I-Vote.

Election night results for Polk County can be found at http://www.polkelections.com and for Florida at https://floridaelectionwatch.gov/

Voters will see names of many candidates who have already dropped out of the race, since the deadline to withdraw was in December.In addition to President Donald J. Trump, the Florida primary Republican ballot includes Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente, Joe Walsh and Bill Weld.

In addition to current frontrunners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, the Florida Democratic primary ballot includes: Michael Bennet, Michael R. Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Joe Sestak, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang.

Voters are asked to provide at the polls a valid photo ID with signature. Any one of the following photo IDs will be accepted:

• Florida driver's license

• Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

• United States passport

• Debit or credit card

• Military identification

• Student identification

• Retirement center identification

• Neighborhood association identification

• Public assistance identification

• Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs

• License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06

• Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.

If your photo ID does not include your signature, you will be asked to provide another ID that has your signature.

If you do not bring proper ID, you can still vote a provisional ballot. As long as you are eligible and voted in the proper precinct, your provisional ballot will count provided the signature on your provisional ballot matches the signature in your registration record.

For additional information or questions about voting Tuesday, go to http://www.polkelections.com or call 863-534-5888.