Request a Ballot (Military/Overseas Only)

For a broader and more detailed explanation of the process of voting by mail (including faxed and emailed ballots), visit Voting Basics.

If you have just registered to vote for the first time,
PLEASE CONFIRM THAT YOU ARE REGISTERED PRIOR TO REQUESTING BALLOTS. You can confirm your registration status by (a) checking your voter status (the website reflects information processed up to the previous day) or by (b) contacting the Military and Overseas Voting Team.

PLEASE BE AWARE

Requests for vote-by-mail ballots expire December 31 of every even-numbered year. In other words, requests expire at the end of the year after every federal general election. Once any general election has passed, you must request vote-by-mail ballots again to have vote-by-mail ballots sent to you for future elections.

DEADLINES AND THINGS TO CONSIDER

DEADLINE TO REQUEST A VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT: The deadline for the Supervisor of Elections to receive a request for a ballot to be sent by mail is 12 days prior to any election at 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. However, persons eligible for emailed and faxed ballots (active-duty uniformed services and Merchant Marine members living outside Duval County; such members’ spouses and dependents living outside Duval County, and overseas voters) may continue requesting emailed and/or faxed ballots after 12 days prior to Election Day. Requests received after 7 p.m. US Eastern Time on Election Day will not be processed for that election, and the voted ballot must be received by the Supervisor of Elections by the deadline regardless of when the ballot is requested.

VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOTS BEGIN BEING SENT to members of the uniformed services and Merchant Marine, to spouses and dependents of such members, and to overseas voters by 45 days prior to any election, after which vote-by-mail ballots are sent within two business days after the request is received by the Supervisor of Elections.

PLEASE CONSIDER that if you need to request vote-by-mail ballots, the most beneficial way to do so (plus update any information if needed) is by completing and returning a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) to the Supervisor of Elections (OPTION B below) since by completing an FPCA, you will also update your signature.

UPDATING YOUR SIGNATURE IS ESSENTIAL FOR VOTE-BY-MAIL VOTERS. Updating your signature on your voter registration record periodically (or when your signature changes) is important since your voted ballot will be counted based on whether the signature returned with your voted ballot matches the signature on your voter registration record. You may update your signature, request vote-by-mail ballots, and update any other information by using option A below.

WHO MAY REQUEST A BALLOT: Immediate family (spouse, OR parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, of the voter or of the voter’s spouse) or the voter’s legal guardian may request a ballot for a voter, but a ballot requested by such persons may only be sent to a destination already on the voter's record. Any CHANGES being made to the record (for example, mailing address, ballot delivery address, email address for ballot delivery, etc.), may only be made BY THE VOTER.

Overseas voters are also eligible to request and return the state write-in vote-by-mail ballot*.

WAYS TO REQUEST A VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT (DETAILS)

OPTION A. Requesting a ballot by submitting the request online.

To request a ballot by submitting the request online, a person will need to provide either the voter's Florida Driver License number, the voter's Florida Identification Card number, or the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number. Ballot requests submitted online can take up to 24 hours to be available to our staff for processing, after which time our staff will process the request. AFTER YOU SUBMIT YOUR VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT REQUEST ONLINE, PLEASE CONFIRM that the request was processed. You may confirm that your vote-by-mail ballot request was processed by (a) checking your voter status (the website reflects information processed up to the previous day) or by (b) contacting the Military and Overseas Voting Team.

If you want the ballot delivered to you by email or fax: when you are in the online request form: military/military dependent voters, you will need to enter a ballot address outside Duval County; overseas voters, you will need to enter an overseas ballot address. After you do that, the system will recognize your designation as either domestic military/military dependent outside Duval County and/or overseas, and the options for email and fax as delivery methods will appear.

I want to submit a vote-by-mail ballot request online.

OPTION B. Requesting a ballot by submitting a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA).

The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) may ONLY be used by members of the uniformed services and Merchant Marine living outside Duval County; by uniformed services and Merchant Marine members’ dependents and spouses living outside Duval County; and by overseas voters. (How do I request a ballot if I am a civilian living stateside?)

1. PRINT the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). If you need an FPCA to be mailed to you, please contact the Military and Overseas Voting Team.
2. COMPLETE the FPCA with handwritten, pen-to-paper signature. An incomplete FPCA could delay ballot delivery; if you have questions, please refer to Frequently Asked Questions or contact the Military and Overseas Voting Team.
3. If you are already registered to vote in Florida, you may RETURN the completed FPCA by email to duvaluocava@duvalelections.gov OR by fax to (904) 301-3867 OR by mail to the UOCAVA Team, Supervisor of Elections Office, 105 E. Monroe St., Jacksonville, FL 32202. (How does a person register to vote in Florida?)

*State write-in vote-by-mail ballot: No earlier than 180 days before a general election, an overseas voter may request a state write-in vote-by-mail ballot. In the request the voter must indicate that due to military or other contingencies that preclude normal mail delivery, the voter cannot vote a regular vote-by-mail ballot during the normal voting period. The state write-in vote-by-mail ballot is made available to overseas voters 90 to 180 days prior to a general election. The state write-in vote-by-mail ballot is not the typical official ballot; the state write-in vote-by-mail ballot will contain only the election races (not the candidate names except for judicial retention races), and for each race the voter may either fill in the name of the candidate or the name of a political party in which case the ballot for that race would be counted for the candidate of that political party. If you are interested in a state write-in vote-by-mail ballot, please contact the Military and Overseas Voting Team.

Please note that under Florida's very broad public records law, email communications to and from city officials are subject to public disclosure.

Sections 97.1031, 101.045(1), 101.62 and 101.68, Fla. Stat. (2023)