More than 1.4 million vote-by-mail ballots sent out to Florida voters ahead of August primary

More than 1.4 million ballots have been sent out for the August primary, according to the state Division of Elections.

And more ballots are scheduled for delivery ahead of the Aug. 18 primary.

Registered Democratic voters accounted for 623,548 ballots, compared to 493,469 for Republicans and 270,642 for individuals without a party affiliation. Another 31,184 ballots went to individuals registered with a minor party.

"Ron DeSantis has said that Florida is the gold standard when it comes to vote by mail, and so we are going to continue pushing this access to the ballot box," Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said Monday in a conference call with reporters.

The state has seen the use of mail ballots decline from the COVID peak of 2.34 million used in the 2020 election cycle.

In 2022, the use dropped to 1.75 million. In 2024, 1.4 million votes were cast through the mail.

Republicans have criticized the voting method, echoing complaints of President Donald Trump, who without evidence has called the process "mail-in cheating."

In April, Trump issued an executive order seeking to direct the U.S. Postal Service to determine who may vote by mail, blocking those not on federal mail voter lists. A federal judge blocked the order in June.

In 2021, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved election changes that included requiring requests for mail ballots to be made every election cycle. Prior to that law change, the request for a mail ballot was good for four years.

A little more than 3,000 mail ballots have already been cast this year: 1,397 by Democrats, 1,141 by Republicans, 525 from independents and 49 from third-party voters.

Many of the initial batches of mail ballots went to overseas voters.

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office announced on Monday that more than 127,000 mail ballots would be delivered to the post office on Thursday.

In-person early voting at limited polling locations will run from Aug. 8 to Aug. 15 in most counties.

The deadline to register to vote in the primary or to change one's party affiliation is Monday.