Even before early voting begins in Florida, a crucial state in the presidential race, more than 750,000 people have voted by mail, according to the state Division of Elections. Republicans make up about 42 percent of the people who have voted by mail, while Democrats account for another 40 percent.
Many more Floridians — more than 2.2 million — have requested mail ballots, so most of those ballots haven't been returned yet. Based on mail ballot requests, Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political scientist, forecasted strong turnout for the general election.
The fact that Democrats are requesting and returning ballots in nearly the same numbers as Republicans is a change from previous years, when Republicans dominated in mail absentee ballots. In 2014 they led Democrats by 6.5 percentage points.
