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More Than Three Million Ballots Cast in Election

Photo: Josh Carter
Photo: Josh Carter

More than 366,000 Floridians have quickly cast ballots at early voting sites for the November 3rd general election, according to Tuesday figures from the state Division of Elections.

Added to nearly 2.67 million vote-by-mail ballots already cast, that means more than three million of the state’s 14.4 million voters have already participated. Elections officials predict many counties will have more than 60 percent of the anticipated turnout completed before Election Day. Florida State University Political Science Professor Carol Weissert says the coronavirus pandemic will lead to more people voting before Election Day than ever before. She adds it's hard to tell what the early numbers mean in 2020. “The Democrats are going to vote early, and then the Republicans will probably vote later. So, I don’t think we can make too much of it, because the election is going to be very close. How close we don’t know, but it’s just too early to be making any predictions.” Of the 366,000 early votes cast Monday, Democrats outnumber Republicans by less than 300 ballots. However, of the vote-by-mail ballots already in, Democrats had returned more than 480,000 more than Republicans. All counties are required to offer early voting from Saturday to October 31st, but they had the option of beginning Monday and extending through November 1st.

Danielle Prieur is WMFE's education reporter.