ORLANDO, Fla. – Early voting is ending in Central Florida and Supervisor of Elections are reporting low turnouts thus far, but say they are hopeful more people are headed to the polls come election day.
Chris Anderson, Seminole County’s Supervisor of Elections said, “You have to get out and vote if you want your voice to be heard, so the one thing that I would say directly to a voter that was on the fence about whether or not they should vote... this is your chance.”
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Anderson was seen making his final push for voter participation Saturday as early voting ends across Central Florida.
Seminole County will join Orange and Osceola counties ending their early voting Sunday, while Lake, Volusia, Brevard, Polk, Marion and Flagler counties ended Saturday.
This past Tuesday there was a multi-county push encouraging people to get out and vote.
Anderson says since that push turnout has been low, but he has seen an increase in his county.
“We did a big push to see voters get out and encourage them to vote,” said Anderson, “And since then, we had almost about 5,000 votes per day.”
Out in Lake County, the polls are now closed for early voting.
“Our percentage now is about a little over 30% of our voters, either by mail or in person,” said Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays.
Hays tells News 6 he has also seen low voter turnout so far, but says at this time he and his team are prepping for Election Day.
“We have already deployed a whole lot of our precinct equipment that’s going to be used on Tuesday. We have a few more last-minute deliveries to make on Monday, and then bright-eyed bushy team will come in Tuesday morning,” said Hays.
Both Hays and Anderson say they do expect voting numbers to rise come election day.
Hays said, “This early voting has been very, very smooth; the voters have been very understanding, the poll workers have been very accommodating, really couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Also agreeing with how early voting has been running smoothly Anderson added, “I would like to think that people are not going to wait and they’re going to vote no matter how they choose to vote, they’re going to turn out.”
As a reminder, for those voting in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties you have until 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. Sunday depending on the county to cast your ballot for early voting.
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