{"id":261231,"date":"2026-05-06T22:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261231\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T22:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:11:07","slug":"some-central-florida-voters-will-see-district-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261231\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Central Florida voters will see district changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0With new congressional districts now in place, supervisors of elections from Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties participated in a panel Wednesday to discuss this year\u2019s elections and how the new map will affect voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many voters may now be in different congressional districts, and election officials say they\u2019re working to make sure everyone understands these changes so there are no surprises on Election Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts more work on our plates in many ways. One is helping people be clear about where they are voting and who they are voting for, and that\u2019s been a moving target for people,\u201d said Kathy Schmitz, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Orange County.<\/p>\n

Education is key, Schmitz said, including letting people know about the candidates and issues that will be on their ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen some very close elections in Florida this year,” Schmitz said. “We know one vote can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redistricting could change some voters’ options.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our voters will get a new congressional district, and they will definitely get a new voter information card with the new district numbers on it,\u201d Orange County Supervisor of Elections Karen Castor Dentel said.<\/p>\n

Orange County officials said they are moving forward with the map signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this week<\/a>. If courts side with those challenging the map, officials said they will adjust and return to previous districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new congressional redistricting, it shouldn\u2019t change much, except for some people\u2019s precincts and locations may change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

New voter information cards have already been sent to Orange County voters, Castor Dentel said.<\/p>\n

In Seminole County, Supervisor of Elections Amy Pennock said its congressional district did not change, so voters there do not need new notifications.<\/p>\n

Officials throughout the state are focused on making sure residents know about the changes to vote-by-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Voters who cast ballots by mail in the last general election need to reapply if they plan to vote by mail again. The deadline to file that request is 5 p.m. Aug. 6, 12 days before the primary election.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have elections in August, Aug. 18. Make sure you have your vote-by-mail request done (by the deadline),\u201d Pennock said.<\/p>\n

Officials also discussed expanded early voting locations, noting the growing popularity of that option across Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties.<\/p>\n

For those who choose to vote in person, election officials said they have strong relationships with local sheriff’s offices to provide security for voters and poll workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0With new congressional districts now in place, supervisors of elections from Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4318,3140,6507,2811,2287,115,1335,139,141,140,1976,99,1014],"class_list":["post-261231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-ashley-engle","tag-election","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-osceola-county","tag-politics","tag-seminole-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}