The Florida Division of Elections reported Tuesday that just over 171,000 people voted in person at locations that had opened. Another 933,000 mail ballots had been cast, out of 13.7 million registered voters statewide. Early voting is scheduled to be available statewide from Saturday through Oct. 31.

At the Lake Jackson Community Center in Tallahassee, voter Ulysses Roberson said he chose to vote early to avoid crowds and honor the work of earlier generations. “We fought for this vote and our civil rights,” he said. “My ancestors always did this.”

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley urged voters to consider early voting as a way to avoid Election Day lines.

Among voters whose party registration was reported, Democrats had cast nearly 400,000 mail ballots and just over 68,500 in-person early votes. Republicans had cast about 340,000 mail ballots and roughly 69,000 early votes. Voters with no party affiliation had cast nearly 175,000 mail ballots and about 30,000 early votes; third-party voters had cast nearly 23,000 mail ballots and just over 4,000 early votes. The figures describe how people are voting, not how they will vote in the election.

Florida’s voting patterns have shifted in recent election cycles. Democrats have generally used mail voting more than Republicans, while Republicans have often turned out in greater numbers for in-person early voting. Changes to the state’s vote-by-mail rules may also affect how voters choose to cast ballots this year.

A 2021 law adopted by the Republican-led Legislature requires voters to submit a new request for mail ballots after each general election. Tallahassee Democratic consultant Steve Schale said the reset of the request list means some voters may choose a different voting method. The early figures, he cautioned in a post on X, are too preliminary to draw firm conclusions.

The historical numbers underscore how much voting methods have changed. In 2018, Republicans cast 1.08 million mail ballots, compared with 1.03 million from Democrats, while Democrats led in early voting, 1.14 million to 1.05 million. In 2022, Democrats cast 1.19 million of the state’s 2.77 million mail ballots, while Republicans led early in-person voting, 1.17 million to just over 675,000. In 2024, Democrats again led in mail voting, while Republicans cast 2.5 million early votes compared with 1.5 million by Democrats.

With early voting now beginning across the state, voters have several days to cast ballots before Election Day. The current totals offer an early snapshot of participation, but they do not indicate the outcome of the Nov. 3 contest.