As we begin early voting today for Florida’s midterm elections, I wanted to start by setting the stage for the final home stretch to Election Day. Each weekday, I’ll be providing an early voting update and comparing turnout to the previous midterm cycle in 2014. There are 28 early voting locations in Miami-Dade, 22 locations in Broward and 14 locations in Palm Beach County. First here’s where we stand with votes received by mail.
- Democrats: 354,056 – 38%
- Republicans: 406,118 – 44%
- Indy/3rd party: 163,478 – 18%
So, among partisans, Republicans hold a 6-point advantage in voter turnout as early voting commences. Now, get ready for this comparison. In the 2014 midterms with mail-in votes the break out was:
- Democrats: 38%
- Republicans: 44%
- Indy/3rd party: 18%
That's not a mistake. It’s exactly the same as where we are today. If you’re attempting to gauge turnout, so far so good for the GOP in Florida as Republican partisans are pacing the exact same advantage in turnout at this stage of voting as they held in the 2014 midterms which were successful for Republicans nationally and within Florida. The total early voting totals, counting vote by mail and early voting, breakouts from 2014 were:
- Democrats: 40%
- Republicans: 42%
- Indy/3rd party: 18%
Photo by: Zach Boyden-Holmes/Getty Images