Early voting slow across Central Florida ahead of Tuesday’s primary

Central Florida voters trickled to the polls this week ahead of Tuesday’s primary and mail ballots arrived in relatively low numbers, with early turnout running light across Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties.

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By 12 p.m. Friday, only about one in 10 registered voters in each county had cast a ballot, according to the counties’ supervisors of elections offices.

Statewide, about 1.47 million Floridians had voted as of Friday morning, roughly 980,000 by mail and 491,000 through early in-person voting, according to the Florida Division of Elections. That’s about 11% of the state’s 13.5 million registered voters.

Leigh Bingham, 54, an Orlando resident and registered Democrat, voted Friday afternoon at the Winter Park Public Library. She said she votes early in most elections, and she was in and out in about five minutes.

“You always worry something might come up on voting day, like what if your kid is sick you can’t get out to the polls. I like to know that I got it done.”

Voters will cast ballots in marquee contests for governor, seats in Congress and the Florida Legislature as well as a slew of local races including Orange County’s next mayor, city and county commissions and judicial seats. Many of the races are primaries, closed to those who are not registered as Democrats or Republicans, though some, including school board races, are non-partisan and open to all voters.

Registered Republicans, who outnumber Democrats by over 1.5 million in Florida, have cast just over 280,000 in-person early votes to a little more than 170,000 by registered Democrats, according to Florida Division of Elections data from Friday afternoon.

But as President Donald Trump repeatedly questions voting by mail, Democrats hold the edge in mail-in ballots, 440,500 to 380,500.

Another around 140,500 mail ballots and nearly 32,000 early votes have been cast by individuals without a party affiliation, as of Friday afternoon.

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Local election officials said in May that a state law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 has also impacted mail-in voting. The law means requests for mail-in ballots expire at the end of a presidential election cycle and a new request must be submitted to vote by mail in subsequent elections.

Even as the numbers lagged, the supervisors said then that voters like the mail option because it is convenient, giving residents a way to vote if they face transportation concerns, need to travel or have emergencies near Election Day.

Christina Arguelles, a judicial candidate for the Ninth Circuit, also voted Friday at the Winter Park Library.

Arguelles said it was her third time this week attempting to vote, not because of any polling location issues, she said, but because things got crazy between heavy rain and taking care of her kids.

“I actually like voting on election day, but we got caught in some lines last time. So I was like, better to go vote early and not have to worry about it.”

Central Florida counties opened early voting on different days and for different lengths of time, with Orange offering the longest window – 14 days, with voting available through Sunday. Osceola residents can also vote early through Sunday while those in Lake and Seminole need to do it by today or wait until Tuesday.

Vote-by-mail ballots must reach elections offices by 7 p.m. Tuesday. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

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