Early Florida voters encourage others to cast their ballot for midterm election

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Photo: WINK News

With the midterm elections so close, people are getting pretty excited to exercise their right to vote.

Florida is seeing big numbers for early voting this midterm election. Collier County election officials say 93,000 voters have already cast their ballots this year with only two days of early voting left.

The total number of Collier County voters for the 2014 midterm election was just 114,000.

MOREWhere is my early voting booth?

In Collier County, voters say the large turnout is due to important issues and races on the ballot.

“We got the red tide out there we have climate issues we have a lot of people in Florida depending on their Medicare and social security,” said Benjamin Glick who opted to vote early. “And if they vote for the wrong candidate they may not get it.”

Others say it is also important to lead by example.

“I had to bring two and I’m hoping to bring three more young men so that they can have the opportunity to have their voice heard,” said Vincent Keeys, the president of the NAACP in Collier County.

Supervisor of Elections Jennifer Edwards says these numbers are breaking records.

“It’s already exceeding 2014, but we’ve already exceeded 2016 mail ballots counts as far as number of ballots mailed out and returned,” she said.

Voters are also taking to social media, posting photos of their stickers that say “I voted today,” a form of positive peer pressure to encourage others to exercise their right and take a part in the Democratic process.

MORE: The 12 amendments on the Florida election ballot

Four million people have already voted in Florida altogether with just four days left until the election.

Early voting ends in Collier and Lee counties Saturday.

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