Polls open with 2.23 million ballots already cast

Polling places opened across Florida at 7 a.m. in Tuesday’s primary elections, after more than 2.23 million ballots had been cast by mail and in early voting.

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As of Tuesday morning, the state Division of Elections reported that about 1.62 million ballots had been cast by mail. Nearly 614,000 were cast in in-person early voting, which ended during the weekend.

Registered Democrats cast 1.03 million of the ballots by mail and in early voting, while registered Republicans cast about 918,000, with the remainder cast by unaffiliated or third-party voters. Democrats led Republicans in voting by mail, while members of the GOP outnumbered Democrats in early voting.

Polling places will be open until 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the highest-profile race the Democratic gubernatorial primary between Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried.

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