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Early voting for Florida's March 19 Presidential Preference Primary begins Saturday in nine locations around Osceola County. FILE PHOTO
Are you a registered Republican?
This isn’t a personal question. If you are, it’s about time to vote again.
If you live east or south of the city limits of St. Cloud, you may have voted in the special election for the District 35 state House of Representatives seat in January won by Democrat Tom Keen.
This time it’s the Presidential Preference Primary, to select nominating delegates for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential race. Since the Florida Democratic Party nominated President Joe Biden as its sole candidate, and primaries are “closed” races in Florida, there is only a Republican primary, and only registered members of that party will be voting this time around.
Election Day is Tuesday, March 19. Vote-by-mail ballots were sent out on Feb. 15 and about 3,700 of them had already been voted and returned to the Supervisor of Elections by Tuesday’s press deadline.
Early voting begins Saturday and runs through March 17 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at nine sites county-wide:
Supervisor of Elections Office—2509 E. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway, Kissimmee;
West Osceola Branch Library—305 Campus Street, Celebration;
Robert Guevara Community Center—501 Florida Parkway, Kissimmee (BVL);
St. Cloud Civic Center—3001 17th Street, St. Cloud;
Kissimmee Civic Center—201 E. Dakin Avenue, Kissimmee;
The Gym & Aquatic Center—625 Country Club Drive, Poinciana;
Narcoossee Community Center—5354 Rambling Road, Narcoossee;
Tax Collector (Campbell City Branch)—4730 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Kissimmee;
Osceola Welcome Center—4155 W. Vine Street, Kissimmee
The Supervisor of Elections sent sample ballots out to registered Republicans Friday. Seven candidates will be on that ballot, although a number of them have already announced they’ve suspended their campaign or withdrawn from the race. (Under Florida election laws, if a candidate did not formally withdraw before Dec. 12, 2023, they remain on the ballot.
They are, alphabetically:
Pastor and businessman Ryan Binkley;
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum;
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie;
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis;
Former ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley;
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson;
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy;
Former President Donald Trump
After this, the next election is the Aug. 20 Primary Election, which will feature city, county, state and federal races. The “book closing” deadline to be registered to vote and with the party of your choice is July 22.
