ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – In the first three days of early voting in Orange County, voters have been turning out to polls for Florida's closed primary election.
This year, Orange County polls are on track to surpass the last two primaries. As of Sunday evening, 8,572 votes had been submitted. Nearly 5,000 of those ballots were from registered Democrats, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office "Real Time Early Voting Turnout By Party."
That's almost twice the amount of early ballots cast in the 2016 primary, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office. For the first three days of the 2016 primary, 4,582 ballots were cast.
In the first three days of the 2014 primary, 9,881 ballots were cast.
[2018 Elections: ClickOrlando.com's 2018 voter information guide]
Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles said he expected turnout to be relatively low, considering this is a primary during a non-presidential election year.
"In the last four primaries, our highest turnout has been 22 percent," Cowles said. "From that standpoint, we probably figure that our numbers are going to be someplace in that 25 percent range."
In Orange and Osceola counties, early voting will be available until Aug. 26.