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Collier and Lee County residents who want to cast ballots in the Aug. 26 primary election but haven’t registered need to do so by July 28.

Those who want to vote in the general election on Nov. 4 have more time -- that registration deadline is Oct. 6.

Voter registration forms can be picked up at local elections offices, city halls, driver license offices and public libraries.

Florida is a closed primary state. Voters may register with or without party affiliation but in most cases only registered Democrats or Republicans may vote in the respective party’s primary.

This year, as in previous years, Collier and Lee counties will have early voting.

For the Aug. 26 election, early voting is from Aug. 11 to Aug. 23. For the general election, early voting will run from Oct. 20 through Nov. 1.

Voters in this year’s elections will use a new optical scan ballot method that requires both an electronic and paper vote.

Collier County Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards said the method has been used in more than 50 Florida counties for several years, but that this is the first year it will be used in this area.

“The change was made to improve voter confidence in the entire process and I think that it’s key that our voters have confidence in the voting process, so I support any changes to improve that,” Edwards said.

After checking in at a voting site, voters will receive a ballot, a secrecy sleeve and a marking pen, according to the Lee County Supervisor of Elections Web site.

A video demonstration of the new process is shown on the front page of that Web site.

Once a person receives their materials, voters will go to a privacy booth to manually mark the paper ballot with the pen given to them. Voters then insert the paper ballot into a machine that will check the ballot for errors and confirm that the votes were received.

Individuals who don’t want to participate in early voting or vote in person on election day can contact their elections office by mail, telephone or via the Web site to request an absentee ballot. Online forms are available at the Collier and Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office Web sites.

Only voters or their immediate family members, including a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent or legal guardian, can request a ballot.

Absentee ballots must be received by the Supervisor of Elections Office by mail or in person no later than 7 p.m. on election day. Absentee ballots may not be turned in at polling places.

Edwards said that while she encourages new voters to register, she also urges registered voters whose addresses have changed to update their records.

To be eligible to register, voters must be U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old on or before election day and a resident of the county in which they are registering.

Voters are ineligible if they have been convicted of a felony or declared mentally incapacitated, unless voting rights have been officially restored.

For voting information, contact the Collier County Supervisor of Elections office at (239) 252-8450 or www.colliervotes.com. The Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office can be reached at (239) 533-8683 or www.leeelections.com.