Dems lead Republicans in mail ballots returned, with room to stretch lead further
Florida Democrats are leading their Republican counterparts in the number of mail-in ballots returned so far, with just 20 days before votes are counted. But Republicans have returned a larger share of requested ballots.
According to the Florida Department of State, 303,597 mail ballots have been cast as of Wednesday morning already by people registered with the Florida Democratic Party, while 262,136 ballots have been returned by members of the Republican Party of Florida.
Additionally, 129,474 ballots from no-party voters have been cast, as have 14,152 third-party ballots.
In total, 709,359 ballots have been returned overall, roughly a third of the 2,481,599 requested.
Republicans, though they have an active registered voter edge of nearly 1,155,000, did not prioritize vote-by-mail in 2020 as they had in previous cycles. That didn’t materially matter in a state where Democrats struggled in previous cycles. But their return rate thus far (31.2%) is slightly more than that of Democrats (29.1%), who have more outstanding absentee ballots to be cast: 1,042,690 to 839,853.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/701864-dems-lead-republicans-in-mail-ballots-returned-with-room-to-stretch-lead-further/