Leon County poll workers say early voting was busier than primary day

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Florida’s primary began at 7 a.m. Tuesday; however, more than 2 million Floridians already voted by mail before the polls opened.

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Florida Division of Elections says 2,212,714 people submitted mail-in votes, and an additional 558,430 cast their ballots during the early voting period. In Leon County, 12,169 people voted early for this primary, while 40,509 voters mailed theirs in, according to the Division of Elections. An additional 30,049 mail-in ballots have yet to be returned in Leon County.

Poll workers at the Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office say it’s actually less busy on primary day itself than it has been in the last couple of weeks, considering the large amount of people opting to vote early or through the mail. That being said, poll workers have taken many sanitizing precautions.

One Leon County voter says the staff inside was fantastic.

“They are sanitizing pump stations once you walk in, once you register and get your ballot,” Jade Dixon says. “As soon as you turn your ballot in, there’s another hand sanitizing station, and the clerks come by and sanitize as soon as you move from the polling booth.”

Another woman told WCTV things were so sanitized at the polls. She says she had so many opportunities to clean her hands, she actually felt cleaner coming out of the polling site than when she came in.

WCTV will speak with Leon County Elections Supervisor Mark Earley today about the number of voters coming here in person.

The dropboxes are located at the Supervisor of Elections Office on 2900-01 Apalachee Parkway. You can turn in your ballot inside the voting site, or at the drive-through green tent on the other end of the parking lot.

Dropboxes have been located at other polling places during early voting, but on Primary Day they are only at the Supervisor of Elections Office; you cannot drop off your ballot at your usual polling place today.

This is a developing story.

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