Florida was one of four states voting yesterday amid the coronavirus. There were calls to postpone but officials decided to push forward and voters did the same.
Tallahassee resident Charles Ingram voted at the Jack McLean precinct. He said he considered not coming.
"I definitely was worried like I said earlier I was definitely hesitating about coming out here," Ingram said.
He says voting went smooth once he arrived at the Jack McLean precinct.
"It was very pleasant they have hand sanitizer for your hands and stuff like that. And it was very easy, in and out, like I said less than ten people were in my way so I came and left," Ingram said.
More than 400 voters showed up to cast their ballots at Jack McLean. Another voter, Patricia Rush says she’s not stopping most of what she does because she has faith.
"Coronavirus is not bothering me but I know some precautions they say to take and I'mtaking it," McLean said. "But im still doing some things that I have always done in the name of Jesus."
And Gena Grant she says she wouldn’t have missed voting on Tuesday for anything. It was her first time casting a ballot since getting her right to vote restored.
"There was a time I made some mistakes in my life and wasn’t able to vote," Grant said. "I got my rights back since Amendment 4 went out and I’m a little overwhelmed. I was just telling my friend that came with me that there’s a part of me that wants to cry."
Out of more than 172,000 registered voters in Leon County 59,000 had voted by 7:00 pm Tuesday. Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley says that’s fewer than normal but he isn’t sure it’s all coronavirus related.
“It looks like the Democrat turnout will be about 10% below what happened in 2016, the Republican turnout probably about 20 to 22% lower than 2016," Earley said. "Some of that’s to be expected, I think the contest were a lot more hotly contested especially on the Republican side in 16. We’ve got an incumbent Republican President here so a lot of times there’s not even a ballot on the Republican side in those years.”
Earley says he feels the right decision was made to move forward with the election.
