Florida deadline to register to vote, switch parties nears

Eligible Florida voters have only a few days left to register or switch their party affiliation if they want to vote in the March 17 Democratic presidential primary.

Florida has closed primaries, which means anyone not registered as a Democrat by Tuesday will be unable to vote to choose the party’s nominee.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that some areas, like Orange County, had extended hours this weekend to accommodate new registrations and party switches.

Two million vote-by-mail ballots were also going in the mail. Early voting begins at the beginning of March and lasts through the weekend before the primary.

But experts caution that sending a ballot in too early runs the risk of voting for someone who will have dropped out of the race by the time the Florida primary takes place.

In 2016, former Florida governor Jeb Bush was running for the Republican nomination. The former Florida governor dropped out of the race two weeks before his home state’s primary, but 43,511 people wound up voting for him.