Florida's Final Pre-Election Count: 5,402,229 Ballots Cast, Republicans Lead by 135,011, and 515,059 Mail Ballots Are Still Out
Florida goes into Election Day with more than 5.4 million ballots already cast — almost 40 percent of its 13.7 million registered voters. Republicans hold a 135,011-ballot edge in who has voted, Democrats lead the mail, and half a million requested mail ballots had not come back by Monday morning.
Florida has voted early in midterm numbers that would settle most elections outright. A total of 5,402,229 ballots had been cast as of 8 a.m. Monday, according to the Florida Division of Elections — almost 40 percent of the state's 13,672,122 registered voters. Of those ballots, 2,174,589 were cast by registered Republicans, 2,039,578 by registered Democrats, 1,049,454 by voters with no party affiliation and 138,608 by voters of other parties — a Republican turnout edge of 135,011 ballots. Registration records who cast a ballot; it does not record how anyone voted.
The two parties voted by different roads. Democrats lead the mail: of 1,941,375 mail ballots returned, 832,610 came from Democrats against 678,709 from Republicans. Republicans lead the rooms: of 3,460,854 early in-person ballots, 1,495,880 were Republican and 1,206,968 Democratic. Central Florida Public Media notes turnout is significantly higher than in the last midterms. The loose end is the mailbox: 515,059 requested mail ballots — 202,539 of them Democratic, 172,402 Republican — had not been returned by Monday morning, and a mail ballot counts only if it reaches the county elections office by 7 p.m. Tuesday; mailing it now is too late to guarantee arrival, so hand-delivery is the safe route.
What remains is Election Day itself. Florida's polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, voters must vote at their assigned precinct, anyone in line at 7 p.m. may vote, and voters are asked for a current photo ID with a signature — a voter without acceptable ID may still cast a provisional ballot, which the canvassing board reviews for eligibility. The electorate those voters join is majority-Republican by registration — 5,678,755 Republicans to 4,133,397 Democrats as of Sept. 30, with 3,345,188 voters of no party affiliation — which is why both parties spent Monday telling their own side the same thing: the race is in the turnout that is left.
