ORLANDO, Fla. — The second day of early voting started out Tuesday with long lines again at some polling places across the state, after a day of high voter turnout Monday.
What You Need To Know
- At least 366,000 voters cast ballots early on Monday
- Early voting starts in Sumter County today
- RELATED: Florida Early Voting: What You Need to Know
- 2020 ELECTIONS COVERAGE: Election News | Florida Voting Guide
About 366,436 people voted across the state in counties that opened for early voting Monday, according to the Florida Division of Elections. Some large counties did not report until later Tuesday morning, like Lee County and Orange County, which had technical issues with the website for its elections supervisor Monday. That website was back up and running on Tuesday.
Once Orange County's numbers were factored in, Democrats held a slight lead over Republican voters after the first day in Florida. Some 153,743 Republicans cast a ballot, compared to 154,004 Democrats. No party affiliate and third party voters cast nearly 59,000 votes.
Democrats continue to hold the lead on vote-by-mail ballots, casting nearly 1.3 million while Republicans have cast more than 812,000. Overall, nearly 2.7 million vote-by-mail ballots have been turned in, with nearly 3.2 million ballots requested but not yet turned in.
Voters waited in long lines at several polling places across the state Monday, and reports of long lines continued on Tuesday. In some places voters waited for up to 3 hours.
Early voting began in all counties in the immediate Tampa Bay area on Monday.
In Hillsborough, 24,063 people voted on Monday; In Pinellas, 8,448. Both are all-time records. In Pasco County, just north of Hillsborough and Pinellas, more than 12,000 voters cast ballots Monday.
Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said Monday's first day of early voting "was one of the busiest days in the history of (Pasco County) early voting."
In Central Florida, eight of the nine counties voted early Monday.
Orange County reported 16,778 votes, one of the highest in the state for Monday. It was 200 votes fewer than the county reported on the first day of early voting in 2016, according to Cowles. He attributes that to the increase so far in vote-by-mail ballot requests.
Brevard County reported 13,187 early votes, which the county says is a 20% increase from 2016. Volusia County also said it broke an early voting first day record with 9,601 votes cast. All numbers are according to the state website.
Sumter County begins early voting Tuesday.