Nearly half of all North Central Florida voters cast their ballots before Tuesday.
Of the 607,292 voters in 13 North Central Florida counties who registered by Sept. 30, 272,029 — about 45 percent — either voted by mail or voted early as of this morning, according to data from the Florida Department of State's Division of Elections.
<i> </i> | Vote by Mail | Vote Early | Total | Total Registered Voters as of Sept. 30 | Percentage of Registered Voters as of Sept. 30 |
<b><i>Alachua</i></b> | 27,569 | 51,100 | 78,669 | 174,344 | 45.1% |
<b><i>Bradford</i></b> | 2,404 | 4,675 | 7,079 | 15,909 | 44.5% |
<b><i>Columbia</i></b> | 5,463 | 14,044 | 19,507 | 37,092 | 52.6% |
<b><i>Dixie</i></b> | 1,883 | 2,319 | 4,202 | 9,792 | 42.9% |
<b><i>Gilchrist </i></b> | 1,795 | 2,412 | 4,207 | 11,333 | 37.1% |
<b><i>Hamilton</i></b> | 1,334 | 1,702 | 3,036 | 8,034 | 37.8% |
<b><i>Lafayette</i></b> | 600 | 1,147 | 1,747 | 4,427 | <b>39.5%</b> |
| Levy | 5,001 | 5,107 | 10,108 | 26,565 | <b>38.1%</b> |
| Madison | 1,112 | 4,554 | 5,666 | 11,475 | <b>49.4%</b> |
| Marion | 37,374 | 66,199 | 103,573 | 227,932 | <b>45.4%</b> |
| Putnam | 6,360 | 13,868 | 20,228 | 47,043 | <b>43.0%</b> |
| Suwannee | 4,257 | 6,482 | 10,739 | 26,204 | <b>41.0%</b> |
| Union | 951 | 2,317 | 3,268 | 7,142 | <b>45.8%</b> |
| Total | 96,103 | 175,926 | 272,029 | 607,292 | <b>44.8%</b> |
Gilchrist County had the lowest rate of voters who cast ballots before Election Day, while Columbia County had the highest rate. The two counties had 37 percent and 53 percent, respectively, using the alternative voting method.
The area's 45 percent is less than the 51 percent of voters statewide who used either method to vote before Election Day. The state had 12,655,286 registered voters as of Sept. 30, and 6,511,712 voted before Nov. 8.
The number of registered voters does not represent additional registrations accepted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18, the court imposed voter registration deadline. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker extended the deadline following Hurricane Matthew — it had originally been set for Oct. 11. According to the Division of Elections' website, an additional 107,085 registrations were accepted by Oct. 28.