More than 200,000 central Floridians have voted in the state’s presidential primary. According to elections officials, that number is set to outpace the 2012 and 2008 presidential primaries by Sunday.
Orange County elections supervisor Bill Cowles says early voting has grown in central Florida because many people work in tourism and service fields.
“People do not work a traditional 8-to-5 schedule, so early voting and voting by mail makes it more convenient to participate without having to take time off to vote on a Tuesday.”
Some counties have increased the number of early voting sites this election year. Orange County now has seventeen polling locations, up from twelve last election.
“We want voters now to get familiar with where the other options are so that when we get to the November 8th presidential election, they have seen the other options and will move over to those,” says Cowles.
Brevard County currently leads central Florida in early voting, with 17 percent of its voters having already cast ballots.
Statewide, 1.3 million voters have voted early.
Early voting ends this Sunday.