Early voting beats primary voting in Walton, Santa Rosa (with DIGITAL ELECTION GUIDE)

Take this year in Santa Rosa County. Hardly anyone showed up to vote in the Aug. 24 primary — the 23 percent turnout was the lowest in 10 years. But by the end of the day Friday, a whopping 10,664 people already had voted early or returned absentee ballots. “It never ceases to amaze me,” Supervisor of Elections Ann Bodenstein said. The early ballots are more than were cast in the entire primary, Bodenstein said. She noted that there was a line running around her office Friday and that there hadn’t been a day all week when less than 1,000 people voted. Things have been similar in Walton County, according to elections supervisor Bobby Beasley. By 2:30 p.m. Friday, a little more than 4,600 voters had turned in ballots. It was expected that early and absentee votes would outnumber those cast in the primary. “We’re getting pretty good participation,” Beasley said. The early voters were out in force in Okaloosa County, too. Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux reported more than 11,000 ballots had been turned in. That means about 18 percent of all registered voters had stepped up four days before Tuesday’s election, said Lux, who predicted a total turnout of 48 to 50 percent. Those with an interest in such things, like state Sen. Don Gaetz, said that many of the early votes came from Republicans. And while that is no surprise in Northwest Florida, Republicans say early GOP ballots outnumber Democrats by more than 400,000 statewide. Voters in this election cycle also are showing a passion that Bodenstein said she has not seen previously. Many are coming to polling places with filled-out sample ballots in hand. She said she’s seen people putting their hands on their ballots and praying before heading to the voting booths. “People are serious,” Bodenstein said. “They are serious about this.”

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