Updated: Tuesday, 12:26 p.m.
Even before the polls opened on Tuesday morning, about 40 percent of about 13.7 million registered voters in Florida had already cast their ballots, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.
Nearly 5.46 million voters in the state voted early, either in person (nearly 3.47 million) or by mail (about 1.99 million), according to the Election Lab.
About 2.06 million or 37.8 percent of registered Democrats and about 2.92 million or 40.2 percent of registered Republicans opted to vote early, data shows. About 1.2 million or 22 percent of independent voters also voted early.
Though Republicans held an early lead going into Election Day, it's a smaller lead than they held in the 2022 and 2024 elections, WFLA reported.
During the 2022 midterms, about 1.7 million Republicans voted early compared to about 676,000 Democrats. In 2024, 2.55 million GOP voters cast their ballot early and had a lead of more than 1 million votes over Democrats ahead of Election Day.
Registered Republicans outnumber Democratic voters in Florida by about 1.5 million.
"In every county in this state, Democrats are showing up at rates that we have not seen in years," Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried stated in an emailed fundraising pitch Monday morning, as reported by News4Jax. "If we can keep that energy up on Election Day, I believe that we will take back Florida."
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the GOP candidate for governor, anticipated a surge of Republican voters on Tuesday, News4Jax said.
"I'm very proud of our efforts," Donalds said during an appearance on the "Florida Unwired" podcast with the News Service of Florida. "We know there are going to be a lot of voters showing up on election day. A lot of Republican voters are going to show up on election day. We know that. So, we just stay focused."
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for seven Florida counties impacted by severe weather conditions, including extreme flooding, on Monday at 12:30 p.m., just ahead of Election Day.
The emergency order is in effect for Brevard, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie counties, which have seen heavy rains in recent days.
As a result of the significant flooding, at least 21 polling places across eight counties were forced to close and move to new locations on Tuesday, the Florida Division of Elections said.
Under the governor's order, any Supervisor of Elections who can't comply with state statutes regarding Election Day voting "must notify the Florida Department of State of any partial or substitute measures the Supervisor wishes to undertake, such undertaking subject to the Florida Secretary of State's approval."
The following polling locations have been affected by the flooding, state officials said:
To serve voters, the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections office at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building C, in Viera, will remain open on Tuesday for those dropping off mail ballots, the office said in a social media post.
"For the safety and security of our election workers and the voters of Brevard, it is necessary to relocate a couple of precinct polling locations due to these unprecedented circumstances," Tim Bobanic, Brevard County Supervisor of Elections said in a statement, according to Miramar News.
Voting locations in the affected counties could change throughout the day if the weather worsens, officials added.
"Our Supervisors of Elections have said more changes are possible if conditions get worse, so check your county's site before you head out. Your safety always comes first, so make sure to check your neighborhood's conditions before leaving the house," Rep. Brian Mast, who represents Florida's District 21, posted to X on Tuesday morning.
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