Leon County’s early voting turnout is more than double that of the previous midterm election. Elections Supervisor Mark Early says he is "heartened" to see people voting in such numbers.
Earley is expecting a record election day turnout. That would add to several county records already broken. Sunday was the highest voter turnout ever in a midterm for early voting – helped in part by the Souls to the Polls initiative.
Earley says Leon voters know their stuff when it comes to the issues.
"Everything’s been going very smoothly so far; I think that attests to the training we do here – but also voters’ knowledge of the issues," Earley said Monday. "There’s not been any lines, they’ve been doing their homework before they come in to vote, to make sure they know what they want to vote for."
Major party turnout is unprecedented. Yet, Earley says voters not affiliated with a party haven’t been following that trend.
"The Democrats and Republicans, they’re turning out in very high numbers. The non-partisan or minor party voters, those are very low actually, they’re about 13 percent turnout," Earley said. "Which is about a third roughly what the turnout is for Democrats and Republicans."
Earley says the total number of registered voters has grown by about 22,000 since the 2014 midterms. He is urging those voting on election day to get to the polls early, as rain is expected in the afternoon.
