By The News Service of Florida
More than 762,000 people had voted as of Wednesday morning in the Aug. 20 primary elections, with most casting ballots by mail.
Data posted on the state Division of Elections website showed 743,793 vote-by-mail ballots had been cast, with 315,464 by Republicans, 306,581 by Democrats, 111,169 by unaffiliated voters and 10,579 by third-party voters. Also, 18,511 votes had been cast at early-voting sites, with 11,161 by Republicans, 5,802 by Democrats, 1,421 by unaffiliated voters and 127 by third-party voters.
Early voting started Monday in some counties and will go statewide Saturday. It will continue statewide through Aug. 17, though some counties will offer early voting Aug. 18.
Vote Tally Tops 762,000 added by The News Service of Florida on
View all posts by The News Service of Florida →
Oh for the “good ol’ days” when voting was held on just one day. People went to their polling place, showed their ID and cast their vote. If you didn’t plan or arrange to be able to cast your vote in person, that was just plain tough. You missed your voting opportunity.
However, perhaps you learned an important lesson. When the next election came along and your really, really, really wanted to vote, perhaps this time you would plan ahead, arrange to have someone take you to the polling place if you needed assistance and you would be able to vote.
Over the years our system of voting has severely strayed from this historic norm that worked very well for many decades. It appears the new approach of “if it ain’t broke let’s fix it anyway” is the “new norm.”