Early voting numbers were low for Tuesday’s Orlando municipal elections and the special primary election for state House District 35, according to elections office data, though mail-in ballot returns were much higher.
In Orange County, 3,855 voters cast ballots at the three early voting sites from Oct. 28 through Sunday, including 2,284 for the Orlando election, 1,378 for the special election and 193 in the handful of precincts in both, according to the Orange elections office.
Those numbers make up just over 1.4% of the nearly 167,000 eligible voters in Orlando and about 2.6% of the nearly 60,000 eligible voters in the county’s portion of District 35, which includes Waterford Lakes and Bithlo.
In Osceola, 397 voters cast early ballots at the two voting sites, making up just 2.4% of all 16,615 eligible voters in their portion of District 35, which includes parts of Kissimmee, St. Cloud and much of the southeastern part of the county.
Voting by mail numbers, however, greatly increased the totals. As of Monday, 15,137 ballots had been returned to the Orange Elections Office, about 61% of the nearly 25,000 total mail-in ballots sent out in Orlando and its portion of District 35.
In Osceola, according to the elections office, 1,726 voters returned mail-in ballots as of Monday.
Mail-in ballots must be received at elections offices by 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Overall, Orange County saw a 10% turnout as of Monday for the special election while Osceola is seeing a 13% turnout. Orlando saw an 8% turnout as of Monday in its election.
Orlando’s municipal election, which will determine the mayor’s race as well as two City Council seats, is nonpartisan. In District 35, only registered Republicans and Democrats can vote in their party’s primaries, in which three Democrats and three Republicans are running to face off in the special general election in January to replace former state Rep. Fred Hawkins.
Precinct polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day on Tuesday in both counties.
