One week into early voting, more than 1.7 million Floridians have already cast ballots ahead of next Tuesday's primary elections.
The vast majority, nearly 90 percent, have been cast by mail.
For comparison, vote by mail accounted for 67 percent of ballots cast ahead of the primary election day in 2018.
Marty Bishop, Supervisor of Elections in Jefferson County in North Florida, said the drop in early voting is likely attributed to COVID-19, and the push most supervisors have made to have people vote through the mail.
Bishop said supervisors across Florida are doing their best to make it safe for those who still choose to vote in person.
“When the voter comes in and marks the ballot, they are told to carry the pen with them. We are not using secrecy folders because of the contact of using them over and over again,” Bishop said. “We have masks and we have hand sanitizer.”
The August 18 primary includes partisan primary races for several Congressional and legislative seats.
Additionally, citizens are casting ballots in numerous local contests, many of which are nonpartisan.
As of Midday Monday, 840,000 Democrats have voted, 649,000 ballots have been cast by Republicans and 244,000 voters with minor or no party affiliation have gone to the polls or turned in ballots.
