From Staff Reports
In Summary:
Florida voters have cast 934,558 ballots by mail or through early in-person voting ahead of the August 18 primary election. Orange County reported 61,264 ballots, with Democrats accounting for 31,789 and Republicans accounting for 19,527. At the Apopka Community Center, Democrats led Republicans 846 to 726 among 1,706 early ballots cast.
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More than 61,000 Orange County voters have already cast ballots in Florida’s 2026 primary election, contributing to a statewide total approaching 1 million as voters choose party nominees for governor and other key offices.
Related: Opinion: Will this year’s primary election be compromised?
As of Monday, 934,558 Florida voters had returned mail ballots or voted early in person, according to figures from the Florida Division of Elections. The primary concludes on Election Day, August 18.
Orange County reported 61,264 ballots by party affiliation. Democrats accounted for 31,789, or nearly 52% of the county total, while Republicans cast 19,527, or about 32%. Another 8,987 ballots came from voters with no party affiliation, and 961 were attributed to voters registered with other parties.
The county figures gave Democrats a 12,262-ballot advantage over Republicans at that point in the voting period.
At the Apopka Community Center, 1,706 early in-person ballots had been cast. Democrats accounted for 846 of those ballots, compared with 726 from Republicans. Voters with no party affiliation cast 118 ballots, while voters registered with other parties cast 16.
That gave Democrats a 120-vote advantage at the Apopka site—a considerably narrower margin than the Democratic advantage across Orange County as a whole. Democrats represented about 49.6% of the center’s early vote, while Republicans accounted for approximately 42.6%.
The location totals represent ballots cast at the Apopka Community Center, not necessarily ballots from Apopka residents alone. During early voting, Orange County voters may use designated early-voting locations rather than being limited to their assigned Election Day precincts.
Statewide, voting patterns differed sharply by method.
Of the 759,992 vote-by-mail ballots received across Florida, 337,834 came from Democrats and 294,742 from Republicans. Voters with no party affiliation returned 113,594 ballots, while 13,822 were classified under other affiliations.
That gave Democrats a 43,092-ballot advantage in voting by mail.
Republicans held the advantage in early in-person voting. Of the 174,566 ballots cast at early-voting sites, Republicans accounted for 97,391, compared with 63,691 from Democrats. Another 11,892 ballots came from voters with no party affiliation, and 1,592 were categorized as other.
The Republican advantage in early in-person voting stood at 33,700 ballots.
When the two voting methods are combined, Democrats had cast 401,525 ballots statewide and Republicans had cast 392,133—a Democratic advantage of 9,392 ballots. Voters with no party affiliation accounted for 125,486 ballots, while other affiliations represented 15,414.
The figures show that Democrats’ strength in voting by mail was largely offset by Republicans’ advantage at early-voting sites.
Orange County’s published 2026 election calendar lists early voting for the primary from Aug. 3 through Aug. 16, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 18. The Florida Division of Elections lists Aug. 18 as the statewide primary date.
The available Orange County figures contain a discrepancy in the breakdown by voting method. The reported county total and party-affiliation categories add to 61,264, while the supplied figures of 38,631 mail ballots and 22,234 early in-person ballots add to 60,865—a difference of 399 ballots.
The turnout figures are snapshots and will continue changing as additional voters cast early ballots and election officials receive eligible vote-by-mail ballots.
Key Points:
- Florida voters had cast 934,558 primary ballots as of Monday, including 759,992 by mail and 174,566 through early in-person voting.
- Democrats led statewide mail voting by 43,092 ballots, while Republicans led early in-person voting by 33,700.
- Orange County reported 61,264 ballots by party affiliation: 31,789 Democratic, 19,527 Republican, 8,987 no-party-affiliation and 961 other.
- The Apopka Community Center recorded 1,706 early ballots, with Democrats holding a 120-vote advantage over Republicans.
- Orange County’s supplied voting-method figures fall 399 ballots short of its reported total, although the county’s party-affiliation figures reconcile exactly.
