The polls opened at 7 a.m. today for Florida's 2026 Primary Election voting. However, results won't start to roll in until shortly after 8 p.m. due to the nine counties in the state's western Panhandle and part of a 10th that are in the Central Time Zone.
Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, and Washington are all in the CST. Gulf County is split — its northern zone is in Central Time but its southern coastal area is in Eastern Time.
So far, over 1.9 million Floridians have cast ballots for today's primary election.
The state Division of Elections lists about 1.1 million vote-by-mail ballots that have been returned to county elections offices. And, at early voting sites, more than 818 thousand people cast a ballot.
Registered Republicans returned 45.5 percent of the ballots cast already, while registered Democrats recorded 42.1 percent.
Not all the races facing voters today will result in a contested election in November. There are a number of contests that begat winners immediately due to no opposition.
For example, in an extreme example in Okeechobee County, not a single local race in the city of Okeechobee nor in the county will be decided by voters after polls close Tuesday evening. Wins were automatically given to the sole office-seekers for the five seats up for grabs in the county and the three seats up for grabs in the city of Okeechobee.
Okeechobee's unopposed winners:
- Board of County Commission: District 2, Frank DeCarlo (incumbent).
- County school board: District 1 Christine Brennan Bishop (incumbent); District 3 Melisa Jahner (incumbent); District 5 Jill Clericuzio Holcomb (incumbent).
- Okeechobee city commission: Bob Jarriel; David McAuley and Dowling Watford Jr. (All incumbents).
Other unopposed races include:
Charlotte County unopposed winners:
- County school board: District 1 Cara Marie Reynolds; District 4 John Henry LeClair.
Collier County unopposed winners:
- County school board: District 1 Jeff Donaldson; District 3 Kelly Mason.
DeSoto County unopposed winners:
- Board of County Commission: District 4 Elton Langford.
- County school board: District 1 Jami Schueneman, District 4 Asena Mott, District 5 Kelly Mercer.
Glades County unopposed winners:
- Board of County Commission: District 2, Jeff Barnes (incumbent).
- School board: District 4 Kimberly Clement (incumbent) .
Hardee County unopposed winners:
- Board of County Commission: District 2 Noey Adam Flores (incumbent).
- County school board: District 1 Stacy Durden Sharp (incumbent); District 4 Marie Albritton Dasher (incumbent); District 5 Mark Edward Gilliard (incumbent)
Hendry County unopposed winners:
- City of LaBelle tax assessor/city commissioner Kevin Holland
- County school board District 3 Amanda Nelson; District 4, Stephanie Busin.
Highlands County unopposed winners:
- Board of County Commission: District 2 Don Elwell.
Lee County unopposed winners:
- County Court Judge Group 6 Josephine Gagliardi
County election supervisor sites
Charlotte County
Collier County
DeSoto County
Glades County
Hardee County
Hendry County
Highlands County
Lee County
Okeechobee County
Sarasota County
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