Daytona Beach, FL - We should know by this time tomorrow where Florida stands on all kinds of political issues, including who will take over as its next Governor.
The fight between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum to become Rick Scott's replacement is just one of many things you'll find on your ballot should you head to the polls this Election Day.
Many of you have already done that, especially in Flagler County, where 45% of its 82,611 registered voters went with early voting or vote-by-mail.
Volusia County set a record for most absentee ballots returned in one election at 77,662 as of Sunday night. Another 63,516 early voted in Volusia, meaning that 35% of its registered voters in the county have already made their decisions on all kinds of key issues, including whether or not Scott should replace incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson in the United States Senate.
The numbers so far show more registered Republicans than Democrats have voted locally, though the margin is much greater in Flagler - where the GOP usually dominates - than in Volusia, where Republicans hold only a 3,582 person lead over Democrats and no party affiliated makes up 30% of all registered voters, more than enough by themselves to tip the scale towards red or blue.
The latest poll from Quinnipiac University indicates those "swing" voters are breaking hard towards Democrats, with Gillum holding a 7% overall lead over DeSantis in his bid to become Florida's first African-American governor and Nelson up over his Republican opponent by the same margin.
Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown says the GOP is dominating among whites and men, but the Democrats are winning the black, Hispanic and women vote, with a double-digit advantage amongst independents in the races for Governor and Senator.
"Independents are the people who swing back and forth between elections," Brown added. "If they go heavily for one candidate or the other, that's often all she wrote."
Statewide, registered Democrats have cast nearly 25,000 more votes than Republicans, a small margin when you consider that 5.11 million ballots have been turned in so far in Florida for this midterm election.
Other big races on the ballot include DeSantis' old U.S. House seat, which is being contested by Republican Michael Waltz and Democrat Nancy Soderberg, as well as key contests for state Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer and Agriculture Commissioner.
There are also 12 state amendments on the ballot, many of which were placed on there in controversial fashion by the state's Constitution Revision Commission. One of those - Amendment 8 - was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in September.
Locally, five seats are up for grabs in the Florida Legislature, including the late Dorothy Hukill's in Senate District 14 and four in the House (Districts 24, 25, 26 and 27).
Of those, only Hukill's seat is guaranteed to see a new face even though she remains on the ballot against Democrat Mel Martin. Should Hukill win, New Smyrna Beach Republican Tom Wright will take her place in Tallahassee.
The incumbents in the other four races - Democrat Patrick Henry (26) and Republicans Paul Renner (24), Tom Leek (25) and David Santiago (27) - are all fighting to keep their jobs against Republican Elizabeth Fetterhoff (26) and Democrats Adam Morley (24), Katie Tripp (25) and Carol Lawrence (27). Libertarian Party candidate Joe Hannoush is also running in District 25.
A slew of local races will also be decided on November 6th, including two seats on the Volusia County Council (Districts 1 & 3), the Volusia County School Board (Districts 1 & 5), and a seat on the Florida 7th Judicial Circuit between Linda Gaustad and Ryan Will, which spans multiple counties.
In Flagler, Districts 2 and 4 on the County Commission are in play, as is District 2 of the School Board.
At the city level, 28 total seats are up for grabs, including five in Deltona and Ormond Beach, three in Daytona Beach, two in Daytona Beach Shores, DeBary, Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Palm Coast and Orange City, and one in DeLand, Oak Hill and Pierson.
Click here for Page 1 (candidates) of Volusia's sample ballot. Click here for Page 2 (amendments).
Click here for Flagler's sample ballot.
If you need a free ride to your polling place in Volusia County, head to your nearest Votran stop and show the driver your voter identification card. Those who use Votran's Gold Service can also take advantage, though those trips do need to be scheduled in advance at 386-761-7700 (Daytona Beach) or 386-424-6800 (New Smyrna Beach) or 386-943-7033 (West Volusia).
The buses will not take voters directly to the polling place. Instead, it will drop those voters off at the nearest stop to the polling place.
