With vote-by-mail and early voting totals added together, Apopka-area precincts have seen a combined voter turnout of 22.58 percent as of the close of business on Wednesday, October 21, 13 days before Election Day on Tuesday, November 3.
The Apopka site of early voting in Orange County is the third most popular of the 20 early-voting sites in the county with 4,132 ballots cast as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, October 22.
The Apopka Community Center/VFW building at 519 S. Central Avenue had lines wrapped around at least halfway around the building on each of the first four days of early voting
that began on Monday, October 19, in Orange County.
On the first day, the line with socially distanced voters stretched all the way around the building back to the front door by the time the doors opened at 8 a.m. Only the office of Bill Cowles, Orange County supervisor of elections, and the Southwest Branch Library had more early voters than the Apopka site.
At the early-voting site in Apopka, 1,884 Democrats, 1,526 Republicans, and 722 other voters had cast their ballots as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, October 22.
There are 20 early-voting sites across Orange County and any registered voter living in the
county can vote early at any of those sites. Also, those who have received a vote-by-mail ballot can fill out their ballot and drop off the completed ballot outside any early-voting site.
Early voting will continue through Sunday, November 1, and the sites will be open from 8
a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.
The wait to vote early have ranged up to a couple of hours, but Cowles said voters have not complained much to his office.
“These voters are waiting with patience because they want to cast their vote. We’re not getting a lot of complaints about the wait,” he said.
As of the close of business on Wednesday, October 21, there were 155,062 vote-by-mail ballots returned to Cowles’ office, according to the supervisor’s website.
Democrats had returned 84,385 ballots in the mail, while Republicans mailed back 34,087 ballots. Other parties and independents had sent back 36,590 ballots.
The full story begins on page 1 of the Friday, October 23, issue of The Apopka Chief. Subscribe today!
