More Than 1.3 Million Floridians Have Already Voted By Mail
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – More than 1.3 million Floridians have already voted in the Nov. 3 elections.
As of Friday, 1.371 million vote-by-mail ballots had been turned in to county elections offices, according to statistics posted online by the Florida Division of Elections.
Democrats had mailed in 707,505 ballots, while Republicans had submitted 396,499. Unaffiliated voters had turned in 215,838 ballots, while members of third parties had mailed in 15,354.
In Miami-Dade and Broward counties combined, nearly 1.1 million ballots have been mailed out and nearly 176-thousand people have voted.
MIAMI-DADE:
In Miami-Dade County, more than 542-thousand vote-by-mail ballots have been mailed out with more than 68-thousand already returned.
35,856 Democrats have mailed in their ballots, while Republicans have submitted 16,885. Unaffiliated voters had turned in 15,386 and members of third parties had mailed in 629.
BROWARD:
In Broward, nearly 547-thousand vote-by-mail ballots have been sent out with more than 107-thousand returned.
Democrats have mailed back 68,346 ballots and Republicans have submitted 17,475. Unaffiliated voters and members of third party voters have sent back 21,416.
While President Donald Trump has repeatedly raised concerns about voting by mail in other states, Gov. Ron DeSantis this week expressed optimism that the majority of mail-in ballots in Florida will be tabulated without causing a delay in results.
"Fortunately, in Florida, we're allowed to process the ballots as they come in, once the window starts," DeSantis said during an appearance Tuesday in The Villages. "Some of these states, they're not allowed to even start that until the polls close. Well, that's going to take forever to be able to count that. If we had to wait, man, we'd have millions of ballots that would just be sitting there."
DeSantis added that the only mail-in-ballots that won't be verified and counted before polls close are those submitted late on Election Day.
"I think that that will make it much smoother," DeSantis continued. "So, you people should have confidence sending the ballot back. We're not just sending out ballots to everybody under the sun. We're not sending them to dead people."
Saturday, October 24 is the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot.
Request a ballot through your county supervisor of Elections website. Immediate family members or guardians can request a ballot for someone else. A voter's signature is required and must match the signature on file.
Vote-by-mail ballots must be received by your county supervisor of Elections by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
- Request a Vote-By-Mail ballot in Miami-Dade
- Request a Vote-By-Mail ballot in Broward
- Request a Vote-By-Mail ballot in Monroe
With its 29 electoral votes, Florida is crucial to both candidates.
(©2020 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.)
