Elections
Florida GOP primary voters shift from mail to early in-person voting
PN Team • 2 months ago
Florida Republicans showed a marked shift in voting behavior ahead of this year's primary election compared to the last open governor's race in 2018. State Division of Elections data show about 422,000 Republicans voted by mail this cycle, down from over 621,000 in 2018, while in-person early voting jumped from roughly 300,000 to nearly 450,000. Democrats' habits changed less, roughly matching 2018 patterns for both mail and early in-person voting.
Analysts point to President Trump's repeated criticism of mail voting as a likely driver of the GOP shift, along with a 2021 Florida law requiring voters to request mail ballots each election cycle rather than every other cycle. Nearly 2 million Floridians had voted early or by mail as of Monday, with Republicans slightly outnumbering Democrats. The contested four-way GOP gubernatorial primary, featuring Byron Donalds, Jay Collins, Paul Renner, and James Fishback, is fueling Republican turnout, while Democrats face a less competitive race led by David Jolly. Experts say the net effect on overall turnout remains uncertain.
Sources:
Sentiment
- Donald Trump Trump is cited as a likely driver of reduced mail voting due to his criticism of the practice, a mildly negative causal link to voting behavior changes.
- Democratic Party (United States) Democrats are mentioned as having a less competitive primary and steady voting patterns, a neutral factual reference.
- Republican Party (United States) Republicans are described as shifting voting behavior and driving turnout in a contested primary, a largely neutral factual portrayal.
- Florida Florida is the setting for the primary election data discussed, a purely factual geographic reference.