Early voting begins in primaries

Early voting begins in primaries

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Aug. 10, 2010 – Voters around the state began casting ballots Monday through Florida’s early voting program that continues for the next two weeks leading up to the actual primary Election Day.

Counties across the state reported a steady stream of voters showing up on the first day for an election that will decide highly contested primaries in the Republican governor’s race between former Columbia/HCA executive Rick Scott and Attorney General Bill McCollum, and the Democratic U.S. Senate election between U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, South Florida businessman Jeff Greene and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre.

“I think you’ve got a lot of turmoil, a lot of political attacks going on,” says Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, who predicts that turnout in Tallahassee will surpass the 31 percent turnout of the 2008 primary. “I think in terms of the primary itself, there’s a lot more attention.”

Heading into the primary, there are 4,601,771 Democrats registered in the state and 3,997,998 Republicans. There are about 2.1 million voters without a party affiliation.

Source: News Service of Florida, Kathleen Haughney