Florida midterms drew second highest turnout in three decades

Overall voter turnout for the midterm election in Florida was 60.9%, the second-highest in the last 30 years.

This year’s total was about 7 percentage points ahead of the 2022 midterm election but two percentage points behind 2018, when Gov. Ron DeSantis was first elected.

“The turnout results, the percentage of turnout and the enthusiasm of people wanting to vote just proves that we are doing the right thing,” Secretary of State Cord Byrd said.

“Over 8 million Floridians decided they were going to come out and choose the people that were going to represent them, whether it’s at the local city level, the county level, the state level or in Washington, D.C.” Byrd continued.

DeSantis attributed Florida’s turnout in part to Amendment 3, the property tax proposal he pushed legislators to put on the ballot.

“Had Amendment 3 not been on the ballot, you know I don’t know that we turn out the voters that we ended up turning out,” DeSantis told reporters last Wednesday. “People wanted to vote yes on that. And then many of them ended up voting Republican later on down the ballot.”

Of the 8.3 million Floridians who voted in the midterm election, 7.94 million checked the “yes” or “no” box on the amendment. Approved with nearly 62% of the vote, the measure increases the non-school homestead property tax exemption from $50,000 to $250,000 over two years.

Two other amendments on the ballot were rejected and attracted about 100,000 fewer votes.

All 67 Florida counties saw more than 50% of voters cast ballots.

Turnout ranged from a high of 73.6% in Sumter County, home to The Villages, to a low of 51.9% at the western end of the Panhandle in Santa Rosa County.

Other rural counties with turnout just over 50% included Hendry County at 52.4%, Hardee and Okaloosa counties at 52.6% and Okeechobee County at 53.7%.

Jefferson County, east of Tallahassee, was the only other county topping 70%, with 70.1% turnout.

Leon County was at 68.6%, Sarasota County at 67.4% and Madison County at 66.8%.

At 55.1%, Duval County had the lowest turnout among more urban counties.

Orange County had 57.8% turnout, Broward County 60.4%, Miami-Dade County 60.5%, Hillsborough County 63.2% and Palm Beach County 64.9%.

About two-thirds of the 8.3 million votes were cast ahead of Election Day, either by mail or at early voting sites across the state.

Machine recounts have been called for one state legislative seat on the Space Coast, where a Democrat appears to have defeated the incumbent, and for a congressional seat Republicans are holding onto in South Florida.

The unofficial results will be confirmed at the state Elections Canvassing Commission meeting Nov. 17.