The number of early voters in Florida has already exceeded the total from 2012, with voting continuing through the weekend.
State election officials reported Friday that nearly 5.3 million Floridians have voted by mail or at polling precincts. In 2012, the total figure was nearly 4.8 million.
The voting between Republicans and Democrats is just about even with Republicans having an edge of less than 2,000 votes. Democrats were ahead by 76,000 votes at this point in 2012 (43 percent vs. 40 percent). Nearly 1 million voters registered with no party affiliation have also voted.
There is one contingency which is voting at a slower rate than in 2012. So far about 520,000 African-American voters have voter early either in person or by mail so far this year in Florida, out of the 4.43 million residents who have voted in the state. That means that 11.7% of early voters are African-American, down from the 15.9% of black Floridians who voted early at this point in 2012.
Polls indicate a tight race in the state between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and both candidates have made repeated swings through the state.
