Voters in and around The Villages were out of the gate and headed for the polls on the first day of early voting in Florida.

Voters lined up Monday morning at the Lady Lake Public Library with the line extending from the library’s elevator doors to outside the building and down the sidewalk. Polling place workers were allowing voters in groups of 10 onto the elevator where they rode to the second-floor election site. Everyone appeared to be wearing masks and practicing social distancing.

Voters wait to use the elevator at the Lady Lake Public Library on the first day of early voting.

Mulberry Grove Recreation Center is serving as an early voting site in Marion County. John Hickey of the Village of Calumet Grove arrived at 8 a.m. at the recreation center. He said the line to vote stretched from inside the recreation center to the sidewalk and along the side of the building.

Early voting was taking place Monday at Mulberry Grove Recreation Center.

“The early voting was heavy,” he said. “But by mid-morning it was lighter.”

Although early voting in Sumter County is staring a day later than in Marion and Lake counties, voters were busy dropping off vote-by-mail ballots Monday at the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections Office at the Sumter County government building at Pinellas Plaza in The Villages. A steady stream of voters with ballots clutched in their hands was seen hand delivering their ballots.

Voters walk in to cast their ballots at the Sumter County government building at Pinellas Plaza in The Villages

One voter said he wanted to drop off his ballot Monday because he feared it would be “a zoo” on Tuesday when early voting begins in Sumter County.

Early voting continues in all three counties through Oct. 31.

Early voting locations in Sumter County include:

  • Allamanda Recreation Center;
  • Laurel Manor Recreation Center;
  • Rohan Recreation Center;
  • Tierra Del Sol Recreation Center;
  • The Villages Sumter County Service Center, 7375 Powell Road in Wildwood; and
  • Bushnell Annex, 316 E. Anderson Ave. in Bushnell.
  • For questions as to what precinct/center you are assigned to, refer to the Supervisor of Elections website for the county you reside in. Each has a precinct locator and other helpful information.

Voting websites: