Florida primary: South Florida voters drive early and mail-in ballot turnout ahead of Election Day
Key Points(5)
- More than 1.8 million Floridians had already cast ballots through vote-by-mail and early voting ahead of Tuesday’s primary, with South Florida’s most populous counties accounting for a significant share of the early turnout.
- State election data compiled through Aug.
- 17 show 1,913,735 ballots had been cast statewide through vote-by-mail and early voting, including 1,095,564 vote-by-mail ballots and 818,171 early votes .
- Republicans accounted for 870,848 of the votes cast through those methods, compared with 806,561 Democrats .
- Another 26,104 votes came from voters registered with other parties, while 210,222 came from voters with no party affiliation.
More than 1.8 million Floridians had already cast ballots through vote-by-mail and early voting ahead of Tuesday’s primary, with South Florida’s most populous counties accounting for a significant share of the early turnout.
State election data compiled through Aug. 17 show 1,913,735 ballots had been cast statewide through vote-by-mail and early voting, including 1,095,564 vote-by-mail ballots and 818,171 early votes.
Republicans accounted for 870,848 of the votes cast through those methods, compared with 806,561 Democrats. Another 26,104 votes came from voters registered with other parties, while 210,222 came from voters with no party affiliation.
The latest figures were compiled at 8:05 a.m. Monday and reflect activity reported by individual county supervisors of elections.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach lead South Florida
In South Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties together had recorded more than 386,000 early and vote-by-mail ballots.
Miami-Dade had recorded 200,126 votes through the two methods, including 101,991 vote-by-mail ballots and 98,135 early votes.
Democrats accounted for 74,531 of Miami-Dade's votes, compared with 55,969 Republicans. Voters with no party affiliation accounted for another 50,727, while 3,605 were registered with other parties.
In Broward County, 178,393 voters had cast ballots through vote-by-mail or early voting. That included 49,222 vote-by-mail ballots and 67,619 early votes.
Democrats made up the largest share, with 70,702 votes, compared with 22,604 Republicans. Voters with no party affiliation accounted for 21,575 votes, while 2,451 were from other parties.
Palm Beach County had recorded 139,619 votes, including 59,013 vote-by-mail ballots and 80,606 early votes. Democrats accounted for 74,510 votes, compared with 40,506 Republicans. No-party voters accounted for 24,841 votes, while 3,235 came from other parties.
Together, the three counties had recorded 518,138 votes through early voting and vote-by-mail.
South Florida counties extend early voting
The figures come as several of Florida's most populous counties extended early voting through Sunday, Aug. 16, giving voters additional opportunities to cast ballots before Tuesday's primary.
The extended early-voting schedule included Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, as well as Duval, Hillsborough, Leon, Manatee, Orange, Osceola, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.
Statewide, 818,171 voters had cast ballots at early-voting sites, while 1,095,564 had returned vote-by-mail ballots.
Another 834,544 vote-by-mail ballots had been provided to voters but had not yet been returned as of Monday morning.
That means the state had more than 2.7 million ballots either already cast or still outstanding among voters who had received vote-by-mail ballots, although the outstanding ballots are not guaranteed to be returned.
Republicans lead early voting; Democrats lead mail-in ballots
The voting methods show a notable partisan split.
Republicans had cast 448,526 early votes, compared with 305,492 by Democrats — a Republican advantage of 143,034 early votes.
Vote-by-mail showed the opposite pattern. Democrats had returned 501,069 vote-by-mail ballots, compared with 422,322 from Republicans, giving Democrats a 78,747-ballot advantage in returned mail ballots.
Voters registered with no party affiliation accounted for 153,902 returned vote-by-mail ballots and 56,320 early votes.
The combined figures show why early voting and vote-by-mail totals should not be interpreted as a prediction of Tuesday's results. Florida is a closed-primary state, meaning voters generally can vote only in their registered political party's primary.
Turnout also could increase significantly on Election Day.
Florida voters will head to the polls Tuesday, Aug. 18, to decide races across the state.
Note: The statewide total above is the sum of returned vote-by-mail and early votes in the Florida Department of State's Aug. 17 report. County reports are cumulative and were last compiled at 8:05 a.m. Aug. 17.
