Early Voting Starts Monday In Five Counties, Including Monroe

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) -- Voters in five Florida counties will be allowed to begin casting their primary votes Monday, while most of the state will wait until next Saturday.

Legislators changed the election law in 2011 and reduced the number of early voting days from 15 to 10. But changes to election law in five Florida counties – Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe – need approval from the federal government to go into effect because of a history of voting discrimination in those places.

The federal government is yet to sign off on the change, which means those five counties are still operating under the old elections law, allowing 15 days of early voting. The state's other 62 counties are under the new law, and voting around most of Florida will start Aug. 4.

Florida's primary election is on Aug. 14.

The Florida Division of Elections web site states that voters must be registered in the party for which the primary is being held. Still, all voters can vote in nonpartisan races and contests where all candidates have the same political affiliation and the winner of the primary election won't have any opposition in the general.

Click here for information about early voting, locations, hours, and more about Campaign 2012 on CBSMiami.com.

"The News Service of Florida contributed to this report."