Election Day 2024 has arrived. Here's what you need to know

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — We’ve reached Election Day, the final day of voting in the 2024 presidential election after millions of Floridians already have cast their votes.

Neighborhood polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Those heading to the polls are less likely to face rain earlier in the day: The rain chances are expected to increase after 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Miami.

Many choices on the ballot

The ballot is longer than many people realize, with multiple elections and referendums.

Voters will cast ballots on the presidential and U.S. Senate contests, and the abortion and marijuana referendums. And almost all voters also will make choices for members of Congress and state Legislature.

Many South Florida voters also will see sheriff, county commission, mayor, city commission or School Board contests.

Also on the ballot are several proposed amendments to the state Constitution, plus local referendums in various parts of South Florida.

Voting essentials

People must vote in their assigned polling place on Election Day. While polling places will remain open until 7 p.m., anyone who is in line at 7 p.m. is allowed to vote.

To vote, someone must have a current, valid photo ID with a signature. The most common are Florida driver’s licenses or state ID cards.

Many other forms of ID, including passports and credit or debit cards are accepted.

If the photo ID doesn’t have a voter’s signature, the person will have to show another ID with a signature.

A voter identification card — which many people call a voter registration card — isn’t needed, and isn’t accepted as a form of identification at a polling place.

What’s helpful

People can bring a marked sample ballot, palm card or other information into the polling place to help you remember your choices.

The Broward and Palm Beach county elections office websites allow people to see customized sample ballots for their location, and people can print, mark and bring them to vote.

It’s now illegal for people to bring unused mail ballots into the voting booth to use as a voting guide.

People can wear election buttons, T-shirts and other indications they support a candidate when they go to vote. Campaign attire doesn’t count as illegal electioneering at the polls.

What people can’t do is attempt to sway voters in the no-campaign zone or hang around in that area after they’ve voted, acting as a human campaign advertisement.

That means a Kamala Harris T-Shirt or a Donald Trump MAGA cap is allowed when someone is voting in a polling place, but distributing handbills for a candidate isn’t.

And people may take pictures of their ballots. People aren’t allowed to take selfies in a polling place because they might end up having someone else in the image.

Mail ballots

It’s too late for someone with a mail ballot to return it via the Postal Service and have it arrive back at the county election headquarters by the deadline, Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The county elections offices accept ballots on Tuesday. Mail ballots can’t be returned to neighborhood polling stations on Tuesday, but people who choose not to use them are allowed to vote in person on Election Day.

Florida has a strict deadline for mail ballots. Any that aren’t in the possession of a county supervisor of elections by 7 p.m. on election night aren’t counted.

There’s one exception to the Election Day deadline. Overseas residents or active duty service members and their family members have extra time, as long as the ballots are postmarked by Tuesday.

Information

People can check to see if they’re registered to vote and find mail-ballot dropoff locations and neighborhood polling place locations online and by phone.

Broward County: browardvotes.gov, 954-357-8683.

Palm Beach County: votepalmbeach.gov, 561-656-6200.