More Than 100,000 Have Cast Early Votes In S. Florida

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Early voting is well underway in the Sunshine State and more than 100,000 residents of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties have already cast their votes.

Early voting began on Saturday and will run through this Saturday, November 3. The number of early voting days was reduced this year by the Republican-led legislature, but the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the early voting days.

In Miami-Dade County, more than 51,000 voters cast their ballots since Saturday. The busiest early voting sites have been the North Dade Regional Library, Coral Gables Library, West Dade Regional Library, and the South Dade Regional Library.

All of those sites have seen at least 3,000 voters come through and cast their ballot in the last 48 hours, according to numbers from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.

In Broward County, more than 54,000 votes have been cast during the first two days of early voting. The Southwest Regional Library has been the busiest location in Broward County with more than 5400 votes cast since early voting began on Saturday.

Overall in the state, roughly 1.9 million Floridians have cast their ballots early, including absentee ballots. The breakdown of the voting is: 1.4 million absentee votes and more than 500,000 early voters.

The vote is nearly evenly split by party with 784,444 ballots cast by Democrats to 774,304 ballots cast by Republicans and 307,000 ballots cast by non-party voters.

The totals are nearly 16 percent of the Florida electorate with a little less than a week to go in early voting.

Long lines are possible due to increased interest in the presidential election and in Miami-Dade County waits could be longer as voters have to make their way through a ballot that could be at least 12 pages long for some voters.

• Click here to see early voting locations in Miami-Dade County; early voting locations in Broward County
• Click here to see early voting wait times in Miami-Dade County; wait times in Broward County

Want to know more about the constitutional amendments?

• Click here for an explanation of the tax amendments (2,9,10,11)
• Click here for an explanation of property tax reform (4)
• Click here for an explanation of money for religion amendment (8)
• Click here for an explanation of the budget overhaul amendment (3)
• Click here for more on the abortion and healthcare amendments (1, 6)
• Click here for more on the Supreme Court Overhaul amendment and Student Government amendment (5,10)