First day of early voting cancelled in some Florida counties due to Hurricane Debby

In an aerial view, a person walks next to a flooded street caused by the rain and storm surge from Hurricane Debby on Aug. 5, 2024, in Cedar Key, Florida. Hurricane Debby brings rainstorms and high winds along Florida’s Big Bend area. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Monday is the first day of early voting in a number of Florida’s 67 counties, but it has been cancelled in at least seven of them because of Hurricane Debby.

Although originally scheduled to begin today, there will no early voting in Alachua, Bradford, Duval, Gadsden, Jefferson, Levy, or Taylor counties.  As of Monday morning, most of those counties have said they will begin early voting on Tuesday.

In Duval County, early voting will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 7, according to the Duval County Supervisor of Elections website . Gadsden County will also begin early voting on Wednesday.

Early voting is taking place in some of the state’s biggest counties, including Miami-Dade, Orange, and Hillsborough.

“We are a large county, and I want our voters to have plenty of options to cast their ballot. I keep early voting open for the maximum number of days allowed by law, including two full weekends,” said Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer in a written statement.

Florida election law requires that the early voting period ahead of an election must start by the 10th day before the election, which for this month’s primary will be Saturday, Aug. 10. Early voting must end on the third day before the election, which is Saturday, Aug. 17. Supervisors have the option to offer early voting as early as Monday, Aug. 5, and many cities are doing so — although not as many as originally intended to, due the storm.

This story has been updated to include Bradford County as cancelling early voting on Monday, Aug. 5, and restarting on Tuesday, Aug. 6.