Florida early voting week one: Democrats hold lead overall, Republicans have slight edge in turnout

More than 1.1 million Florida voters have already cast a ballot ahead of the August 23rd Primary Election.

Here in Duval, more than 46,000 have voted.

So far, early turnout numbers yield some surprising trends.

Specifically the early voting numbers.

Republicans traditionally have tended to favor in-person voting on Election Day.

Up until 2020 they also outpaced Democrats in the vote by mail in Florida, but early in this race some of those traditions seem to be changing.

Democratic voter Dolores Douglas came to a polling place on Beach Boulevard to cast her vote in the Primary Friday.

Like many other Democratic voters, she prefers to cast her ballot during early voting.

“Just to get it over with. I mean, I voted last Presidential Election I voted by mail,” said Douglas.

Overall, Democrats have cast 81,153 more votes than Republicans, mostly due to Democrats returning more mail ballots – a trend that began during the pandemic.

Normally, Democrats also outpace Republicans in early voting as well, but stats from the Florida Division of Elections showed Republicans with the advantage Friday.

As of mid-day, GOP voters had cast 4,004 more ballots at early vote sites compared to Democrats.

Duval Republican voter Carol Poillucci just moved to the state from New York.

She early voted for the first time Friday.

“I waited an hour to vote on Election Day in New York. Yeah, it was cold too and we were outside waiting. Yeah, so I didn’t want to go through that again. So, I figured if I have the opportunity, get it done,” said Poillucci.

Florida Republican Party Chair of Chairs Evan Power said starting with the 2020 election, there has been a shift in Republican voting trends.

“Our voters want to go to the polls, and so they’re taking advantage of early voting in a way that they haven’t before,” said Power.

In Duval, the early vote split is virtually 50/50 between the two parties.

Democrats are outpacing Republicans in vote by mail by more than 1,200 votes.

UNF professor of political science Dr. Michael Binder said even though Democrats hold a six percent voter reregistration advantage in Duval, he expects turnout will likely remain close.

That’s because Duval voters don’t only have partisan primaries on the ballot.

“There’s a sheriff’s race that everybody in the county gets to vote for, meaningful and important. And then there’s also a ballot measure for the millage rate increase to increase teacher pay in Duval County. So, those are two big ticket items that everybody gets a shot at voting at, and because of that Republicans might be more inclined to vote on some of those issues that you might otherwise expect,” said Binder.

But Binder was skeptical the statewide GOP early vote advantage will hold moving forward.

Instead, he believes Republican voters are more likely to show up to vote in-person on Election Day as they traditionally have.

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