OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Election season is coming to an end for most voters in Florida, but residents of the western panhandle still have one more ballot to fill out.

U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) left office the week after he was re-elected. announcement It comes just days after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gaetz to be attorney general.

Now, voters in the Florida counties Gaetz represents, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and part of Walton County, will vote for a new representative to fill the seat.

The last time there was a special election for Florida’s congressional district was when then-Rep. Joe Scarborough resigned in 2001.

NewsChannel 7 spoke with Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux to learn more about how this special election works. Lux said this came because they were still busy with the general election.

“We haven’t even announced the official results of this election yet. “We still have an audit to do from this election,” Lux explained.

Representatives of the US House of Representatives need to be voted on. First, the Florida Secretary of State will issue a schedule to the superintendent of the first district election offices. Election dates will be included in the program.

Those who want to participate in the race will then be given at least 14 days to prepare and register. After the registration period is completed, names will be written on the ballot papers and voters will be able to decide.

“We will run a full election cycle,” Lux said.

With the recent general election, the Okaloosa County elections office needs more items before the next election, Lux said.

“Breaking news, we cast all our ballots. We used all the ballot envelopes. We need to order more of these,” Lux explained.

Lux said his team is in the process of ordering and preparing more of these products, but there are some challenges they will face in the upcoming special elections.

“A bigger concern for us here in Okaloosa County, and probably for most of the counties in this area, is our military voters because legislators changed the fact that a request is only valid in the next general election. So everyone’s request to vote by mail for this cycle expires at the end of this year, so depending on when the election is held, we may not have an absentee ballot request on record for those voters,” Lux said.

The special election calendar can be found on the Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton County supervisor of elections websites once it is published.

If you want a mail ballot for the upcoming election, you must request a new ballot.

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