Strong Early Voting Turn Out For Midterm Election
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Tuesday is the General Election but there's been a record turn out at the polls across Florida.
More than five million people have already voted in the state. Nearly 2.4 million have voted by mail, nearly 2.7 million have voted in early voting.
In Miami-Dade, more than 302-thousand have voted early and more than 242-thousand have voted by mail.
"This is absolutely a historic midterm election. We've already had forty percent of our voters vote in this election and in a typical midterm that would be for the entire election," said Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Christina White.
A steady stream of citizens hand delivered vote-by-mail ballots at Miami-Dade elections headquarters in Doral.
"I want my vote to count. I want my vote to count for what I believe in," said Voter Linda Carraway.
Young voter Gabby Jimenez said she expects the youth vote to play a big role.
"It's something that's going to make a big difference, not just for right now, but for years to come," said Jimenez
In Broward, more than 299-thousand have voted early and more than 166-thousand have voted by mail. In Monroe County, more than 9,700 have voted early and nearly 12-thousand have voted by mail.
When it came to voting early in-person statewide, Democrats (1,130,019) outpaced Republicans (1,042,859).
In voting by mail, Republicans (1,000,308) led Democrats (937,837).
More than a million vote-by-mail ballots have not been returned, nearly a third of them were mailed to voters in Miami-Dade and Broward.
If you have a vote-by-mail ballot and haven't sent it in yet, here's what you need to do.
Monday morning at Miami-Dade County's election headquarters, people lined up with their vote-by-mail ballots in hand to turn them in.
Over the weekend, long lines formed at early voting sites, with some waits near three hours. Voters in North Miami became frustrated when printers failed and ballots for some areas would not print.
White said that will not happen on Tuesday.
"On Election Day, we have all of our ballots pre-printed because we send ballots that are specific to that precint," she said.
If you plan to vote on Tuesday here is what you need to know:
- CLICK HERE to see a SAMPLE BALLOT in Miami-Dade
- CLICK HERE to see a SAMPLE BALLOT in Broward
- CLICK HERE to see a SAMPLE BALLOT in Monroe
CLICK HERE FOR THE CBS MIAMI ELECTION GUIDE
The polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
