Vote-by Mail ballots top 1.16 million as early voting starts
TALLAHASSEE - As early voting sites opened Monday in 37 counties, more than 1.16 million Floridians had cast vote-by-mail ballots in the Nov. 8 election.
According to the state's Division of Elections, 1,164,753 mail-in ballots had been cast, up from 1,041,384 on Friday. Another 3.08 million ballots had been sent to voters but not returned.
As of Monday morning, registered Democrats had cast 491,708 ballots, while registered Republicans had cast 444,954. Unaffiliated voters had cast 211,301 ballots, while third-party voters had cast 16,790.
Early voting sites are required to be open statewide from Saturday through Nov. 5. But counties were allowed to open them as early as Monday. In addition to the 37 counties that opened sites Monday, others will gradually open them during the week.
