Democrats in Florida are doing better than ever in getting absentee ballots. (Photo: Barack Obama’s Flickr.)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
It’s a development that is stumping many, but this year it looks like Democrats are actually doing well in getting their voters to vote using absentee ballots. For years, it was Republicans that heavily dominated absentee voting, but it appears that may not be true this year.
Typically, Democrats were more likely to take advantage of early voting, while Republicans were more likely to use absentee ballots.
However, in 2011, the Florida Legislature cut early voting days, so progressive and Democratic groups started to get out the vote using absentee ballots instead of telling people to vote early.
And the change seems to be taking.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek:
Out of about 275,000 absentee ballots returned to election offices through Oct. 13, 44 percent are from registered Republicans while Democrats account for 40 percent, according to numbers provided by Romney’s campaign and the Florida Democratic Party. The data is exempt from state public records law. Political parties and candidates are able to obtain and release the information.
That 4-percentage-point edge is down from 17 points that Republicans had at the same point during the 2008 presidential election.
About 2.2 million Florida voters have requested absentee ballots, up from 1.6 million at this point in 2008, according to numbers provided by Romney’s campaign and the Florida Democratic Party. About 42 percent of requests this year are from Republicans, while Democrats account for 39 percent. Four years ago at this point, a 14-percentage-point gap favored Republicans.
However, the battle over absentee ballots has become contentious in the true battleground area of this battleground state: the I-4 corridor.
The Miami Herald’s Marc Caputo explained:
Just head east on I-4 from the two biggest counties for returns Tampa Bay’s Pinellas County (1) and Hillsborough (2), which is bordered on the east by Polk (7), which is bordered on the east by Orlando’s Orange County (4), which is bordered on the east by Daytona’s Volusia (6), the end of the I-4 roadway.
Those are the counties strictly on I-4. Sarasota (5) is just a little south of Tampa Bay and Pasco (10) is on the north borders of Hillsborough and Pinellas.
Only Miami-Dade (3), Marion (8) and Duval (9) are outside of the corridor (although Mario sort of touches Volusia).
More than 327,000 have been cast so far (a little background here). And the top ten counties account for 57 percent of them. Democrats are doing best in the top 5, Republicans in 6-10. The GOP is winning the overall absentee-vote chase 44-40 percent.
Democrats still have a registration edge in Florida, but long ballots (some as long as 10 pages), as well as new rules and precincts this year, add another layer of complexity as strategists try and estimate which party is ahead.
Michelle Obama recently voted absentee in an effort to urge people to vote early.