Republicans are far ahead of Democrats in Florida in voting so far in the presidential election.
The overwhelming Republican turnout after four days of early voting in most of Florida is besting the Democrats, who are holding their own — barely — in the Democratic strongholds of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Republican ballots cast so far are slightly ahead of Democrats in Miami-Dade County.
Data on Friday morning, after four full days of in-person early voting in most of Florida and four weeks after Florida voters began receiving their vote-by-mail ballots, showed Republicans with a 300,000-vote statewide lead over the Democrats.
They’re not only turning out in greater total numbers, but so far a higher percentage of registered Republicans has voted than the percentage of Democrats who have voted.
Almost 3.4 million Florida voters had cast ballots by Friday morning.
On Friday morning, about 1.5 million Republicans had voted, which works out to 27.3% of the state’s registered Republicans.
Almost 1.2 million Democrats had voted, which is 25.3% of the state’s registered Democrats.
No party affiliation/independent voters and people registered in various minor parties are so far voting at a far lower rate than Democrats and Republicans. About 690,000 NPA/independent/minor party voters had cast ballots, which works out to a rate of 17.1%.
The Friday morning numbers don’t necessarily portend the outcome. People have until the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day to get their mail ballots back to supervisors of elections offices.
And there hasn’t been any weekend early voting yet. The four days of in-person early voting — Saturday and Sunday and the following Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 2 and 3 — are traditionally some of the heaviest days.
They can also vote all day in their neighborhoods on Nov. 5.
Figures are based largely on data posted by Fresh Take Florida at the University of Florida Journalism School, which scrapes information from county supervisors of elections websites, along with figures posted by the Florida Division of Elections, and numbers posted by the Broward and Palm Beach County supervisors of elections offices.
As of Friday morning, about 258,000 people in Broward, 261,000 in Palm Beach County, and 328,500 in Miami-Dade County had voted at early voting centers or by mail.
South Florida
Voters are turning out at a much higher rate in Palm Beach County than in either Broward or Miami-Dade.
About 22.6% of Broward voters had cast ballots as of Friday morning. In Palm Beach County, 29.2% of the county’s registered voters had already cast ballots. Miami-Dade County turnout was 21.5%.
Democrats are outpolling Republicans in Broward and Palm Beach counties, but not nearly enough to overcome the overwhelming Republican leanings of the rest of the state.
In Broward, far more Democrats than Republicans or no-party independents have cast ballots as of Friday morning.
But Broward is home to a huge base of Democrats — almost double the number of registered Republicans — so their higher raw vote totals are expected.
As of Friday morning, about 133,000 Democrats had voted early or by mail, 25.9% of the registered Democrats.
Republicans had cast about 67,500 votes, or 25.3% of the Republicans registered in the county.
And almost 58,000 people not affiliated with either party had voted, about 15.9% of those voters.
In Palm Beach County, Democrats are turning out at a higher rate than the Republicans.
As of Friday morning, slightly more than 113,000 Palm Beach County Democrats had voted, which works out to 34.2% of registered Democrats in the county.
Almost 88,000 Republicans had voted, or 30.4% of the party’s registered voters.
No party affiliation/independent/third party voters had cast more than 60,000 ballots, which works out to 21.8%.
Miami-Dade County is like the state as a whole: A higher total number of Republicans have cast ballots and they’re turning out at a higher rate than the Democrats.
As of Friday, about 121,000 Miami-Dade County Democrats, or 23.1% of those registered, had voted. Some 125,000 Miami-Dade County Republicans had voted, 25.8% of those registered in the county.
Preferred method
The numbers show a deep divide in how people vote.
Before former President Donald Trump took office, mail voting was huge in Florida for Republicans. They regularly did better than Democrats in mail voting.
In-person early voting was the preferred method for Democrats.
But Trump and the coronavirus pandemic upended people’s voting preferences. While Trump was in office and since then he has claimed without evidence that mail voting was riddled with voter fraud. That soured many Republicans on voting by mail.
Democrats flocked to mail voting during the 2020 general election. Many public opinion polls showed at the time that Democrats were far more concerned than Republicans about COVID, and they preferred mail voting instead of in-person early voting that year.
The new era preferences for early and mail voting are, as of Friday, holding in the 2024 presidential election.
As of Friday morning, the Division of Elections reported 767,882 vote-by-mail ballots cast by Democrats and 655,797 mail ballots cast by Republicans.
By contrast, just 410,218 Democrats had voted early — less than half the 821,466 Republicans who had voted early.
Demand varies
People can vote early at any regional early voting site in the county where they live. A spreadsheet from Broward Supervisor of Elections Supervisor Joe Scott’s office showed widely varying demand among 29 early voting locations.
Through Thursday, 8,616 people voted at the Southwest Regional Library in Pembroke Pines. That works out to an average of 180 people an hour. The second highest was the 7,145 people, or 149 an hour, who voted at the Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs. (Heaviest voting times are typically before and after workday and at lunchtime.)
The lowest used site was the Tyrone Bryant Branch Library in Fort Lauderdale, where 435 people — an average of 10 an hour — voted through Thursday.
Your guide to voting early and voting by mail for president in Florida. Ensure your vote is counted.
Information
People can check to see if they’re registered to vote, check the status of their mail ballots, and find locations of regional early voting sites online and by phone.
Broward County: www.browardvotes.gov, 954-357-8683.
Palm Beach County: www.votepalmbeach.gov, 561-656-6200.
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