Florida primary early voting is underway; more than 566,000 ballots already cast statewide

More than half a million votes have been cast for Florida's primary election as the "early voting" option opened in 10 counties on Monday.

Just after noon on Tuesday, the Division of Elections reported just over 566,000 people voted by mail and 9,000 went to an "early voting" location.

Bradford, Calhoun, Hendry, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange, Putnam and Santa Rosa counties opened early voting locations on Monday.

Supervisors in Hardee, Highlands, Lake, Levy and Nassau counties start the process on Thursday, followed by Alachua, Citrus, Duval and Osceola counties on Friday.

From Saturday through Aug. 15, all 67 counties are required to offer the in-person voting option.

In encouraging voters to use the early voting method, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley pointed to "shorter wait times" and "the flexibility" of being able to vote at any early voting site.

For many small counties, the early voting option is the supervisor's office or a county library. Larger counties offer more locations.

As of Tuesday morning, about 250,000 Democrats and nearly 225,000 Republicans had returned mail ballots. Another 90,000 ballots were submitted by those without party affiliation and 11,000 by individuals registered with a third party.

In the primaries and general elections in 2020, 2022 and 2024, registered Democrats returned more ballots by mail than Republicans, while more Republicans than Democrats took advantage of the early voting process.

In the 2022 primary, 843,687 Democrats voted by mail compared to 646,148 registered GOP voters. Meanwhile, 314,137 Republicans used early voting locations compared to 251,386 Democrats in that primary election.