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Republicans led Democrats after a record first day of in-person early voting in Florida, the state’s Division of Elections reported.
The pattern follows record early voting in both Georgia and North Carolina two weeks ahead of Election Day.
Republicans took over 202,000 ballots in first day in-person voting, almost double the total of Democratic voters of about 120,000 ballots.
In addition to in-person voting, about 1.3 million mail-in ballots were counted. Republicans accounted for 477,778 ballots, Democrats 555,450, Other 26,375 and No Party Affiliation 247,038. Over 2 million vote-by-mail ballots have not yet been returned.
The most recent Florida Voice News update (updated every 10 minutes) posted a growing lead by Republicans as of Thursday morning.
“JUST IN: Florida early voting day #2 is underway and we are now watching the total decimation of the Democrats’ vote-by-mail firewall in real-time. The TOTAL lead is now R+1.4 in the state. Yesterday morning, it was nearly D+7. That’s an 8-point shift in 24 hours,” Eric Daugherty reported.
Orange County reported that it had broken its first-day record of early voting with over 18,000 voters.
“Our team has been working overtime to prepare for today as we head into this monumental election,” said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean. “By adding two more early voting locations there are more ways than ever for Orange County voters to make their voices heard.”
As RSBN previously reported, President Donald Trump also leads in Georgia’s early voting.
Georgia Secretary of State Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling stated on social media that the state’s turnout for the first day of early voting was a record.
“Over 300,000 votes cast today! That’s 123% higher than the old record for the 1st day,” Sterling wrote on X.
“Early mail-in voting in your state is now underway, and early in-person is underway. But I’ll tell you what, I’m hearing very good things,” Trump said during a rally last week in Georgia.
“So if you have a ballot, return it immediately. If not, go tomorrow or as soon as you can. Go to the polls and vote. Then for the next 21 days get everyone you know to get out and vote. We don’t want to take a chance,” he added.