Early Voting Opens Monday Across Hillsborough: 27 Sites, 14 Straight Days, One Big Change in Ruskin

Early voting for Hillsborough County's Aug. 18 primary opens Monday, Aug. 3, at 27 locations, and it runs every single day through Sunday, Aug. 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The key difference from Election Day: during early voting you can walk into any of the 27 sites, not just the one assigned to your precinct. That flexibility matters if you work in Brandon and live in Town 'N Country, and it matters this year to South County voters, because one of the busiest sites in that part of the county is not open.

The SouthShore Regional Library is unavailable this election while the building is being renovated. Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer's office added a new site to fill the gap: the SouthShore Community Resource Center at 201 14th Ave SE in Ruskin. The Southshore Regional Service Center, at 410 30th St SE in Ruskin, is also open for early voting.

Latimer said he keeps early voting open for the maximum number of days state law allows, including two full weekends, so voters in a county this large have options.

Dates you actually need

What	When
Early voting	Aug. 3–16, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily
Vote By Mail request deadline	5 p.m. Aug. 6
Election Day	Aug. 18, 7 a.m.–7 p.m.

Every early voting site has a Secure Ballot Intake Station, so if you already have a mail ballot sitting on the kitchen counter, you can drop it off in person rather than trusting the calendar. Mail ballots have to be in the elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day to count. Postmarks do not help. If you still want one mailed to you, call (813) 612-4180 before 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6.

Bring a photo ID that also has your signature. A Florida driver license is the usual one; the elections office lists the full set of acceptable IDs on its site.

School board races are on the ballot, whatever party you are

Florida runs closed primaries, which means the Republican and Democratic contests are limited to voters registered with that party. There are three ballot styles this month: Republican, Democratic and nonpartisan. But the nonpartisan judicial and School Board contests appear on all of them, so voters with no party affiliation are not shut out.

Hillsborough School Board Districts 2, 4 and 6 were up this cycle. District 6 is a countywide seat, so it lands on every Hillsborough voter's ballot. District 2 is a single-member district, voted on only by residents who live in it. According to local news reports, the District 4 incumbent qualified without opposition and was elected automatically, so that seat does not appear.

School board races can be settled outright in August. If a candidate clears a majority, they win. If not, the top two move on to the November general election.

Three seats decided in August, party be damned

Voters in State Senate District 16 and State House Districts 62 and 63 will see a Universal Primary Contest. That happens when every candidate for a seat shares the same party affiliation and the winner would face no opposition in November. In that case Florida opens the race to everyone in the district, regardless of registration, and the August result is final.

Temple Terrace residents and voters in some special taxing districts also have referendum questions to answer.

Where to go

Sites are spread across the county and include the Fred B. Karl County Center and the West Tampa, Robert W. Saunders Sr., C. Blythe Andrews Jr., Jan Kaminis Platt, Jimmie B. Keel, Town 'N Country and Maureen B. Gauzza libraries in Tampa, plus the Robert L. Gilder Elections Service Center on Falkenburg Road, the Temple Terrace Public Library, Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, Seffner-Mango Branch Library, Bloomingdale Regional Library in Valrico, Riverview Public Library, Providence West Park, Apollo Beach Park & Recreation Center and Keystone Park & Recreation Center in Odessa.

The full list of all 27, along with an interactive tool showing which sites tend to get busy and a personalized sample ballot, is on the Supervisor of Elections' 2026 Primary page. Worth a look before Monday: some Election Day polling places changed for this election, so the location you used in 2024 may not be the one you are assigned to on Aug. 18.

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