Polk County’s polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday for registered Republican voters who wish to participate in Florida’s presidential primary. Even though former President Donald Trump is assured of victory in the primary as the last remaining GOP candidate, the ballot includes six other candidates who were still in the race as of Dec. 12.
The primary is open only to Florida residents who were registered as Republican voters as of Feb. 20. There is no Democratic primary in Florida this year because the party submitted only one name — President Joe Biden — as a nominee.
Here is what you need to know about Republican primary voting in Polk County:
2024 Republican presidential primary
Who: Florida voters who were registered as Republicans as of Feb. 20. That includes 177,713 voters in Polk County. Bring an ID bearing both a photo and signature, such as a driver’s license or passport. People registered as Democrats, with other parties or with no party affiliation are ineligible to vote.
When: Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19.
Where: Polling places for Polk County’s 172 precincts. Look up your polling place here. Five Lakeland precincts have new polling places for this election; those are listed below.
Sample ballot: The ballot includes seven candidates who were still in the race as of Dec. 12, even though Donald Trump is currently the only active candidate.
Mail ballots: People who received a mail ballot that has not been turned in yet have until 7 p.m. Tuesday to deliver it to one of two Supervisor of Elections offices or take it to their polling place and exchange it for a regular ballot. The Polk Supervisor of Elections offices are at 250 S Broadway Ave. in Bartow and 70 Florida Citrus Blvd. in Winter Haven.
As of Sunday, the Polk elections office had received 18,519 mail ballots out of 26,979 that were sent out, according to Rachel Harris, community services director. In addition, 4,585 votes were cast during early voting March 4-16, she said on Monday.
People who want to check on the status of a mail ballot that has been submitted can do so online by entering their information on the Voter Lookup page and then scrolling down to “Vote-by-Mail Information.” Another option is to call the elections office at (863) 534-5888.
New polling places
Eleven Polk precincts have new polling places this election. Five of them are in Lakeland:
Precinct 119
New location: Fellowship Church, 4405 N. Galloway Road.
Former location: Church of Jesus Christ LDS.
Precinct 203
New location: Combee Connection Ministries, 1140 N. Combee Road.
Former location: Gapway Baptist Church.
Precinct 216
New location: McArthur Center at Florida Presbyterian Homes, 811 S. Lakeside Ave.
Former location: RP Funding Center.
Precinct 225
New location: Iglesia Bautista Unidos Por Fe, 1000 Mount Airy Ave.
Former location: New Beginnings Church of the Nazarene.
Precinct 255
New location: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 1520 W. Pipkin Road.
Former location: The Vineyard.
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