About 125,000 Collier voters will pick a member of Congress in a district that now runs across the state to Palm Beach, and early voting starts August 8

Money & World

The Editorial Team · July 26, 2026

A poll worker at a dark table hands over a small stack of round red, white and blue stickers, the top one reading I am a voter.

Photo: Edmond Dantès / Pexels

What it changes

The practical fact for a Collier voter is that the congressional ballot arriving this month is not the one from the last cycle, and the change is not a small boundary adjustment. Two districts left the county outright and a third, District 22, now covers the southern and eastern parts of Collier while also covering Wellington, Parkland and the rural interior on the other side of the peninsula. That means the people competing to represent Marco Island and Everglades City mostly do not live anywhere near them, which is the point Blazier made when she noted the candidates are spread across four counties. Research that would normally start and end with local reputation now has to travel. The second fact is timing, and it is the part that actually costs people their vote. Registration and party changes closed on July 20, and Florida runs a closed primary, so the party on a voter's registration on that date decides which congressional ballot they get and there is no fixing it now. What is still open is the method. The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is 5 p.m. on August 6, early voting runs August 8 through August 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Election Day is August 18 with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A mailed ballot has to arrive at the Supervisor's office, not be postmarked, before polls close. The third fact is the money, and it is modest but real: the county puts redistricting's administrative cost at about $155,000, most of it the printing and postage for 173,000 replacement voter information cards. That is the county paying to tell residents which district they now live in, which is a reasonable measure of how many people the redraw actually moved.

Collier County is voting on a new congressional map for the first time on August 18, and for roughly 125,000 registered voters in the county that means a different district, a different set of candidates, and a district line that runs most of the way across Florida.

The Florida Legislature passed the legislation creating the new United States congressional boundaries on April 29, 2026. According to the Collier County Supervisor of Elections, the redraw moved Districts 18 and 26 out of Collier County altogether, moved the southern boundary of District 19 further north along the west coast and expanded that district northeast past I-75. The remainder of the county now falls within Congressional District 22.

District 22 is the one that changed character. Previously anchored in the Palm Beach County area, it now extends as far west as Marco Island and Everglades City and takes in territory across Hendry, Palm Beach and Broward counties.

"Not only does it take parts of Collier County, it takes Hendry County, goes all the way across the state over to Palm Beach County, south to Broward County," Supervisor of Elections Melissa Blazier told WINK News. "It is a very, very large district with a very diverse population."

Blazier said her office mailed just over 173,000 new voter information cards throughout the county in early June, and that about 125,000 of those registered voters are in the new District 22. The Supervisor's own redistricting page puts the number of affected voters at approximately 172,700 and the county's cost of the redistricting at approximately $155,000, a figure that includes the mail pieces and the postage.

Seven candidates are seeking the Republican nomination in the district and two are seeking the Democratic nomination, and Blazier noted that they are not all local. "These candidates are not just candidates who live in Collier County," she said. "They are spread across four counties." Maddie Herron reported the district for WINK News.

The dates come from the Supervisor of Elections office. The voter registration deadline and book closing for this primary passed on July 20, 2026. Because Florida is a closed primary state, a voter may only vote within the party listed on their registration, with the exception of a universal primary contest, in which every candidate shares a party affiliation and faces no general election opposition and all qualified electors may vote regardless of affiliation.

Requests for a vote-by-mail ballot must be in by 5 p.m. on August 6. Early voting runs August 8 through August 15, with polls open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Election Day is August 18, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters can confirm their own district assignment, office holders and Election Day polling location through the Supervisor of Elections website.

About 125,000 Collier voters will pick a member of Congress in a district that now runs across the state to Palm Beach, and early voting starts August 8

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