45 Percent of North Central Florida Voters Cast Ballots Before Election Day

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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.

 

Vote by Mail Vote Early Total Total Registered Voters as of Sept. 30 Percentage of Registered Voters as of Sept. 30

Alachua

27,569 51,100 78,669 174,344 45.1%

Bradford

2,404 4,675 7,079 15,909 44.5%

Columbia

5,463 14,044 19,507 37,092 52.6%

Dixie

1,883 2,319 4,202 9,792 42.9%

Gilchrist

1,795 2,412 4,207 11,333 37.1%

Hamilton

1,334 1,702 3,036 8,034 37.8%

Lafayette

600 1,147 1,747 4,427

39.5%

Levy 5,001 5,107 10,108 26,565

38.1%

Madison 1,112 4,554 5,666 11,475

49.4%

Marion 37,374 66,199 103,573 227,932

45.4%

Putnam 6,360 13,868 20,228 47,043

43.0%

Suwannee 4,257 6,482 10,739 26,204

41.0%

Union 951 2,317 3,268 7,142

45.8%

Total 96,103 175,926 272,029 607,292

44.8%

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.

 

About TJ Pyche

TJ Pyche is a reporter for WUFT News. He can be reached at tpyche@ufl.edu or 352-392-6397 or 352-392-NEWS. Follow him at @tjpyche.

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