The Florida Keys have consistently had a high voter turnout, but 2020 set a new record, perhaps. According to the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections office, the turnout was 84.8%.
Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffiths sent out an email on Nov. 4 with an announcement of the huge number.
“That crash you heard is the record being broken,” she wrote. “Vote by mail + Early Voting + Polls as of 2 p.m. (on Nov. 3) = 84.28 percent.” In fact, the number would climb a little higher to the aforementioned 84.8%
The Keys has always had high turnout at the polls, however. Consider:
- In the 2016 general election (Trump vs. Clinton): 79.17%
- In the 2012 general election (Obama vs. Romney): 76.3%
- In the 2008 general election (Obama vs. McCain): 81%
- In the 2004 general election (Bush vs. Kerry): 77.17%
- In the 2000 general election, the one with the “hanging chads” (Bush vs. Gore): 70.43%
The Monroe County Supervisor of Elections has a very, very comprehensive record of voting in the Florida Keys. Under the election data button on the election site, clicking on the detailed results button will open an archive that dates all the way back to 1932. It’s hard to decipher the copies of faded, type-written pages, but it’s possible that turnout in that year was as high as 78%.
So, yes, turnout in Monroe County has always been high.
“I think that’s fantastic. I am encouraged by the turnout. With all the money and the advertising spent on political campaigns, I think that the best way to get around it is turnout,” said Josh Mothner of Marathon, who has worked as a campaign advisor.
In the Keys, Republicans outnumber Democrats 23,631 to 18,855. There is also a large number of independent voters — 14,962. According to polling data submitted by Monroe County to the state, more Democrats voted via absentee ballot than Republicans (9,512 to 8,126). But more Republicans voted early when compared to Democrats (7,503 to 4,413). Of those who were provided absentee ballots, there were more outstanding (not yet returned as of Nov. 3) Republican ballots than Democrat ballots.
If 2020 had a theme, it was definitely early voting. According to floridapolitics.com, about 71% of ballots nationwide were cast before election day. In Florida, that number was 62%, or about 2 million more than early or absentee voted in 2016.
In Florida, any ballots that are not received by 7 p.m. on election day will not be counted, with the exception of overseas votes that were postmarked by election day (this usually applies to military personnel serving in other countries). In the 2020 primary election of August, the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections noted that it received 21 late ballots the day after the election, and 4 late ballots two days later.
