Vote-by-Mail Requests Plummet Ahead of Florida’s Critical 2026 Midterms

As Florida gears up for the 2026 midterm elections, a troubling trend has emerged: requests for vote-by-mail ballots are drastically lagging behind the surge seen in the 2024 presidential cycle. Three Central Florida election supervisors revealed at a recent panel that only about 60,000 mail ballot requests have been made in Orange County so far—just one-third of the 175,000 requests from two years ago.

This steep decline follows a Florida law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 that effectively resets vote-by-mail requests after each presidential election cycle. Voters who want to continue voting by mail must submit fresh requests for every election, creating a bureaucratic hurdle that depresses participation.

Karen Castor Dentel, Orange County’s elections supervisor, warned that the low request numbers could foreshadow reduced overall turnout in a year packed with high-stakes races, including governor, U.S. Senate, and state legislature contests. Similar patterns were reported by Seminole and Osceola counties, where mail ballot requests have dropped by half or more.

Osceola Supervisor Mary Jane Arrington acknowledged the shortfall bluntly: “It’s sorry. We have to pay attention and do better.” Her office is mailing reminders to voters in a last-ditch effort to boost requests before the August 18 primaries.

Despite the convenience of mail voting—offering a lifeline for those with transportation issues, travel plans, or emergencies—political attacks continue to undermine confidence in the system. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly bashed vote-by-mail as a gateway for “mail-in cheating,” even though he himself used mail ballots in a recent Florida House special election.

Independent research debunks these claims. A 2025 Brookings Institute study found that mail-in voter fraud occurred at a rate of just four cases per 10 million ballots cast nationwide, confirming the method’s security and reliability.

Florida voters can request mail ballots online, by phone, or in person through their local supervisors of elections. Yet the burden of reapplying every cycle, combined with misinformation campaigns, is clearly taking a toll on participation.

This drop in vote-by-mail requests is more than a bureaucratic hiccup. It signals a broader assault on voting access in a state that remains a key battleground for democracy. The stakes could not be higher. If Florida’s election officials and voters don’t act fast, fewer voices will be heard in one of the nation’s most consequential midterm elections.

For local vote-by-mail requests, contact your county supervisor of elections: - Orange County: 407-836-2070
- Osceola County: 407-742-6000
- Lake County: 352-343-9734
- Seminole County: 407-585-8683