2022 Florida Midterms: Votes already being cast as early mail ballots start trickling in

The first votes of the 2022 primary elections have been cast, with 684 vote-by-mail ballots returned to 41 county elections offices, according to the Florida Division of Elections. 

Nearly one-third of the ballots, 217, were returned in Okaloosa County. 

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Next highest was Duval County with 76 ballots. 

An initial batch of vote-by-mail ballots went to people overseas and in the military. 

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From 2020: Electoral workers are seen during the vote-by-mail ballot scanning process at the Miami-Dade County Election Department in Miami, Florida on November 3, 2020. - The US started voting Tuesday in an election amounting to a referendum on Dona

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Of the ballots returned as of Monday for the Aug. 23 primaries, registered Republicans had submitted 315, while Democrats had submitted 237. 

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Voters without party affiliation had returned 114, while 18 have come from people registered with third parties. 

Florida vote-by-mail requests, by party:

Of the vote-by-mail ballots requested but not yet returned:

  • 844,279 went to Democrats
  • 666,216 to Republicans
  • 388,233 to unaffiliated voters
  • and 32,084 to people registered with third parties. 

The deadline for voting in the primaries or changing party affiliation is July 25. 

In-person early voting will run from Aug. 13 to Aug. 20 in most counties.