Janelle Irwin Taylor
Voter turnout in Pinellas County on Election Day, following the morning rush, is continuing to trend in Republicans’ favor.
As of 9 a.m., only 27,466 people had cast a ballot on Election Day. Republicans are nearly doubling Election Day turnout pace, with nearly 13,000 GOP ballots cast compared to nearly 7,000 for Democrats.
Voter turnout before Election Day had already been favoring the GOP. Democrats outpaced Republicans in vote-by-mail by about 11,000 votes, but Republicans more than overcame that deficit in early, in-person voting, with about 28,000 more ballots cast.
With Election Day voting continuing to favor Republicans, data suggests that turnout from Democrats will not likely catch up, which tracks with overall voter registration numbers favoring the GOP. As of September, there were more than 242,000 registered Republicans in the county, compared to just over 207,000 Democrats.
That means Democratic candidates and causes they support will need to rely on independent voter support. More than 93,000 no-party voters had cast their votes as of 9 a.m., as well as more than 10,000 registered to a minor party.
About 7,200 no-party voters had voted on Election Day as of 9 a.m., more than Democrats.
Overall turnout so far is 64%.
