Florida Republicans Surge Ahead in Early Voting

Florida Republicans showed their preference for in-person early voting this election as they stormed precincts this week.

After only four days of early voting, Republicans outnumbered Florida Democrats have been outvoting them by mail.

Through Thursday, more than 640,000 Republicans in Florida cast ballots in person, as per data from the Florida Division of Elections. That's around 140,000 more in-person votes cast by Democrats, noted a Tampa Bay Times report.

With more Republicans going to precincts for early voting, they took a large portion of their opponents' historic lead in pre-Election Day ballots, reported Politico.

For mail-in voting, Democrats hold an advantage of 570,000 votes with 1.61 million casted ballots compared to 1.04 of Republicans.

So far, Democrats are still in the lead for total votes cast but the gap is likely to shrink as the election draws near.

Gap in Mail-in vs. In-person Early Voting Expected

The split in in-person and mail-in voting was expected, especially with President Donald Trump undermining confidence in mail ballots.

He did say Florida's vote-by-mail system is "safe and secure." Despite this, his supporters were greatly affected by his assertions that mail ballots are riddled with fraud.

Many grew concerned that their ballots won't be counted due various mail-in voting issues.

This led to a switch to in-person voting despite the pandemic sweeping over the country this year.

The Florida GOP also encouraged citizens to exercise early voting in a tweet on Wednesday.

Governor Ron DeSantis was featured in the tweeted video, saying they can vote "safety and securely in person at an official early voting site."

Kicking off Florida's statewide in-person early voting with other GOP voters was President Donald Trump.

He cast his ballot in West Palm Beach Main Library, livestreaming an event to urge supporters to do the same.

According to a pool report, the president said he "voted for a guy named Trump."

He added that he felt his voting experience was "perfect" and he cast a "very secure vote," reported New York Times.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said there was nobody else inside the library voting at the same time as Trump. She also said the president cast a paper ballot.

Trump changed his primary residence to Palm Beach from Manhattan roughly a year ago.

First lady Melania Trump will cast her vote on Election Day, her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham told CNN. She is also registered to vote in Florida.

Early Voting Continues Until November 1

Pasco, Citrus and Hernando counties will continue with early voting through October 31. Polk, Manatee, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties will do so until November 1.

There were some issues encountered in some parts of Tampa Bay's relatively smooth early voting.

On Friday morning, internet went out at the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office. Voters also reported waiting for more than two hours at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library in Valrico on Friday morning.

As of Saturday morning, Republicans have cast about 1.9 million votes pre-Election day. Democrats, on the other hand, cast a total of 2.3 million ballots.

Given the rate of votes coming in right now, as much as 75% of the votes could be case before Election Day in Florida.

This could mean the nation's biggest battleground state might report the most-significant results early.

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