The first week of early voting in the Sunshine State is in the books and although registered Democrats and Floridians registered with no party affiliation around the state have come out in larger numbers than ever before, the trends in the local tri-county area (Marion, Sumter, Lake) have leaned red as in previous elections.
Between mail-in and early votes, registered Republicans are at slight advantage, having voted 1,330,579 times compared with registered Democrats who have voted 1,307,187 times. Roughly 20 percent of all the early voting and mail-in votes across the state (620,268) have come in from Floridians registered as “other” or with no party affiliation, over a ten percent increase from the mid-term elections of 2014.
Over 157,162 votes mail-in and early votes have been cast in the local tri-county area (Marion, Sumter, Lake). That is already nearly four times the number of registered voters that showed up to polls in the 2014 mid-term elections (44,947).
Sumter County early voting data show that 24,359 registered Republicans have casts their votes through the end of the week. That number is more than two and a half times the 10,603 registered Democrats who have cast early votes. Those registered with no party affiliation or to a third party outside of the major two have cast 7,699 early votes thus far.
In Lake County, the numbers are a little closer together, but registered Republicans still lead the way with 26,338 early votes submitted, followed by 17,871 registered Democrats and 9,926 registered as other or with no party affiliation.
Finally, in Marion County the mail-in and early voting totals have painted an almost identical identical picture than in Lake, with 29,999 registered Republicans casting their votes compared to only 20,504 votes by registered Democrats and 9,863 votes by those registered as “other” or no party affiliation.
The Florida Division of Elections will be updating their website daily throughout early voting, so check back to see how the numbers have changed in the days leading up to the election. And remember to get out and vote!