Voting for the August 18th primary surged over the weekend as in-person “early voting” got underway statewide. The Division of Elections reported Monday that more than 900,000 ballots for the primary have already been cast, with nearly 760,000 returned mail ballots and almost 175,000 voters using early voting. Democrats currently hold an overall advantage of about 9,400 votes.
As has been the trend since President Donald Trump began questioning vote-by-mail, registered Republicans in Florida tend to use the early in-person voting method, while Democrats account for the most mail ballots. University of Central Florida Political Science Professor Aubrey Jewett says Democrats may have an early enthusiasm advantage, but Republicans have a history of showing up to vote in person.
“We have definitely seen, in Florida anyway, Republican turnout on Election Day and in-person early voting, be higher than Democratic turnout," said Jewett.
Next week’s election includes primary races for the US Senate, governor, two state cabinet seats, along with several Congressional and legislative races. There are also many city, county and judicial races on the ballot.
Early voting will continue statewide through Saturday, August 15th with some offering early voting on Sunday.
Vote-by-mail ballots must be received by elections officials by 7pm local time on Election Day.