Register and Vote!

Click here for the Miami-Dade County Elections Department
Click here for the Florida State Division of Elections
 

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about how to register.

Who can register ?

To register to vote, you must be 17 years of age or older. You must also be a United States citizen and a permanent resident of Miami-Dade County . There is NO requirement that you live in Miami-Dade County for a specific period of time before you can be considered a permanent resident.

How do I register ?

• You can request that a voter registration form be mailed to you by calling the Miami-Dade County Elections Department at 305-375-4600.
  
  
• You can register online by using the state Division of Election's Voter Registration Form.. However, because this form requires your signature, a pre-printed version will be mailed to you for you to sign. You'll then need to mail it back to the Supervisor of Elections in Miami-Dade County .
  
  
• You can also register in person at the Elections Department itself, which is located at 111 N.W. 1st Street , 19 th Floor, in downtown Miami.
  
  
• In-person registration is also available at your local library, at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and at many other government offices. If you use one of these other agencies, it's a good idea to wait a while and then call then call the Elections Department at 305-375-4600 in order to make sure your application was received and processed.

What is the deadline for registering ?

To participate in an upcoming election, you must be registered at least 29 days before that election. This deadline is called the “book closing” date.

If you are registering by mail, your voter registration form must be postmarked at least 29 days prior to the next election in order for you to vote in that election. To find out when the books close for a particular election, go to http://elections.miamidade.gov/election_calendar.asp. The book closings are listed for each election.

When do I need to re-register ?

If you moved to Miami-Dade County from another state OR from another county within Florida , you need to submit a new voter registration form to Miami-Dade County . This is true even if you were registered in a neighboring Florida County before moving to Miami-Dade.

If you have not voted in several years, you may need to re-register. To find out whether you are still on the voter rolls, call the Miami-Dade Department of Elections at (305) 375-4600. Don't wait until election day to find out whether you can cast a ballot!

If you applied for restoration of civil rights after completing supervision for a past felony conviction and had those rights restored through the Office of Executive Clemency, you may need to re-register. Follow the normal registration process in order to make sure your ballot counts.

Do I need to register again if I moved within Miami-Dade County ?

If you did not change counties, you do not need to re-register. However, you should change your address with the Miami-Dade County Elections Department immediately. You can use the voter registration form to change your address.

Keeping your address up-to-date with the Elections Department will help ensure that you receive key mailings, such as new polling place locations, sample ballots, and other crucial documents. It will also help you avoid any problems on election day.

If you moved within the county and did not change your address prior to election day, you can still vote. Go to the polling place for your new address and inform them that your address has changed. Call 305-375-4600 to find out where your new polling place is. See (NEED HYPERLINK) Make Your Vote Count! for more information on what to do in this situation.

What if I have a past felony conviction ?

If you have been convicted of a felony and are not on appeal or have exhausted all appeals, you should not register to vote until you have had your civil rights, including your right to vote, restored. If you are already registered, you should not vote until you have had your civil rights restored.

To apply for restoration of your civil rights, you need to submit an application form to the Office of Executive Clemency. To get the application form, click here and download Restoration of Civil Rights Application (Form 1501A).

More than a half million people in the state of Florida are barred from voting, even though they've served all their time. For more on the League's policy against felony disenfranchisement, (NEED HYPERLINK [link to national policy on this?])click here .

To learn more about what you can do to fight Florida 's voting ban, or for assistance with your individual application for restoration of civil rights, call the ACLU of Florida at (305) 576-2337 ext. 19.

Vote Absentee! Vote early!

Can't make it to the polls on election day? You do have other options.

• Request an absentee ballot.
  
  
• To vote by absentee ballot via the U.S. mail, you will need to request the ballot in advance. You can download the request form in English and Spanish or in English and Creole.

You can also pick up a form or vote an absentee ballot in person at the Elections Department, located in the Stephen P. Clark Center , 111 NW 1 st St. , 19 th Floor. If you choose to vote the absentee ballot in person, bring a photo and signature ID.

Your request for an absentee ballot must be signed and received by the Elections Department no later than noon on the 4 th calendar day prior to the election. E-mailed or faxed requests are NOT accepted unless the ballot is to be mailed overseas.

If you vote by absentee ballot, make sure to return it to the Elections Department by U.S. mail or by hand delivery. If you take it to the Elections Department yourself, you must bring photo and signature ID. If someone else is picking it up or returning it for you, there are special instructions that you'll need to follow.

The absentee ballot must be received by the Elections Department no later than 7:00 p.m. on election day. Do NOT drop your completed absentee ballot off at a polling place; it won't be counted!

Questions about voting by absentee ballot? Call the Miami-Dade Elections Department at
305-375-5858

Vote early at one of several locations!

For some elections, you may be able to go in person to one of several locations and cast your vote up to two weeks prior to the election. The LWV of Miami-Dade, in conjunction with other groups from the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, advocated for the expansion of early voting in order to make voting more accessible and easier for all.

To find out the locations, dates, and hours of early voting sites for your election, review the information below, go to Miami-Dade's Voting Registration, or call 305-375-5858. Unlike using an absentee ballot, you do NOT have to make a request ahead of time to vote at an early voting site. You also do not have to go to any particular early voting location. Just choose the one that's most convenient for you and the ballot you need will be pulled up on an iVotronic voting machine by a poll worker.

For some elections, early voting is available even on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays! Don't miss this opportunity to make sure you vote in each and every election!

Questions about voting early? Call Miami-Dade Elections Department at 305-375-5858

Make Your Vote Count!

Now that you've registered to vote, it's time to make sure your vote actually counts! There are four key steps you can take in order to make sure that happens.

 Familiarize yourself with the ballot before you head to the polls.
Thanks to the work of the League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade County and other member organizations of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, you may receive a sample ballot in the mail at home for countywide elections.

If you did not receive one or if you'd like to view a sample ballot for your local election, go to http://elections.miamidade.gov/ to download one in English, Spanish, or Creole.

 Get acquainted with the voting machine.
To find out where voting machine demonstrations will be taking place this month, click here [http://elections.miamidade.gov/outreach-oct-03.html]. Or, when you get to the polls, ask a poll worker to give you a demonstration before you cast your ballot.

 Learn what you should do in problem situations.
Don't wait until it's too late to learn what your rights as a voter are. Make sure you know what to do if a voting machine stops functioning, your name is not on the voter rolls, or if you're given a provisional ballot. Situations like this come up all the time. Prepare yourself ahead of time!

To help you stand up for your rights at the polls, the LWV of Miami-Dade County and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida developed "Make Your Vote Count!" pamphlets. You can download the pamphlet here in English, Spanish and Creole [NEED HYPERLINKS hyperlinks to each of these; Harri can use the same pdf files as are on the Reform Coalition site].

Please note that to view these documents, you will need Adobe Acrobat, which can be downloaded free here.

The text of the "Make Your Vote Count!" pamphlet was adapted by Miami-Dade County for use in the first-ever mailing of sample ballots to all County households prior to the November 2002 election.

Upcoming Elections

All upcoming elections scheduled to take place within Miami-Dade County are listed by year on the Elections Department web site. In order to participate in an election, voters must be registered by the book closing date listed in these calendars. If you are registering by mail, your registration form must be postmarked by the book closing date.

Reaching Elected Officials:

To find out who represents you on the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners , go to the Commission web site at http://www.miamidade.gov/commiss/. Use the phone numbers and e-mail addresses to let the Commissioners know what you think!

Agendas for Commission meetings can also be accessed on http://www.miamidade.gov/commiss/. The agendas will help you determine when issues of interest to you are scheduled to come before the Board.

Don't miss any chances to make your voice heard!

Miami-Dade County LWV Priority Issues – Election Reform

The LWV of Miami-Dade County has been and is on the cutting edge of election reform, both locally and nationally. As one of the founding organizations of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, the Miami-Dade LWV is active in promoting reforms that will lead to greater access and higher participation for all in the electoral process.

The work of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition began as a result of the disastrous September 2002 primary elections in Miami-Dade, where poor planning and machine failures prevented many voters, particularly those in predominantly African American precincts, from having their ballots counted or from voting at all ( see study http://www.aclufl.org/racialimpactrelease.html). Understanding the possible negative impact the September problems could have on voter participation and on American democracy itself, the League joined the Coalition's broad spectrum of non-partisan community organizations, civil rights and civil liberties groups, and citizen activists to achieve massive and constructive reforms prior to the November general elections.

Among the reforms achieved in part through the work of the Coalition was the expansion of early voting, independent monitoring of a domestic election for perhaps the first time in U.S. history, the use of back-up paper ballots in the case of machine failure, and perhaps most significantly, the mailing of sample ballots to all households for the first time ever in Miami-Dade history. The Coalition also worked tirelessly, though with limited success, before the November elections to try to make Miami-Dade County a truly trilingual County for the purposes of voting, with materials and assistance available in Spanish, English, and Creole.

But the work of the LWV of Miami-Dade County in the area of election reform began even before the formation of the Coalition, which held its first meeting on September 19, 2002 . Foreseeing the possibility of major problems in the September 10, 2002 primary elections, and recognizing that voters could be empowered to prevent many of them, the Miami-Dade LWV and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida joined forces to produce the Make Your Vote Count! pamphlet in English, Spanish , and Creole. One of the first steps taken by the Coalition after its formation was to adopt this pamphlet for outreach purposes. The contents of the pamphlet were later adapted by the County for use as “Frequently Asked Questions” in the sample ballot that was mailed to all County households.

The Coalition's – and the Miami-Dade LWV's – commitment to positive electoral reform continues today. The Coalition is now struggling to ensure that the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) is implemented in the manner most favorable to restoring voter confidence and protecting the integrity of our elections.

Interested in learning more about how you can become involved? Both the League of Women Voters and the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition offer e-mail lists where you can learn more about various types of voting reforms – just click here or http://www.reformcoalition.org/to sign up. Or, better yet, in the best tradition of civic participation, raise your voice by joining members of the Miami-Dade League of Women Voters and the Coalition at the Coalition's weekly meetings or any of the County meetings where we go to protect the right of each individual to stand equal to every other at the voting booth.