More than half of voters in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties have cast their ballots before the polls open for Election Day today at 7 a.m.
Turnout numbers reported by both counties show that a majority of voters have already taken advantage of the early voting period or mail-in voting to cast their ballots.
In Escambia County, 113,685 ballots have been cast, which is a turnout of 52.96%. While in Santa Rosa County, 82,472 ballots have been cast, a turnout of 57.66%.
Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender told the News Journal on Monday that he’s expecting another 50,000 to 60,000 people to vote on Tuesday.
“Anything north of that would even be great, but 50,000 would put us at about the same percentage of where we were four years ago,” Bender said. “It was also the same number that came out to vote on Election Day two years ago. And then, 60,000 would get us to that 80% turnout, which is tied for the highest that we’ve seen in Escambia County previously.”
Bender said two previous election years are tied for record turnouts: 2008 with the presidential election of Barrack Obama, and 1992 with the presidential election of Bill Clinton.