Florida Democrats take wide lead in mail ballot requests
Florida Democrats are building a substantial lead in mail-in ballot requests for November’s presidential election even as their registration advantage shrinks, but questions remain about whether that will be a boon for Joe Biden as he tries to wrest the nation’s largest swing state from President Donald Trump.
The Florida Secretary of State’s office shows that 2.4 million Democrats have requested mail-in ballots compared with 1.6 million Republicans — a 767,000 request advantage as the coronavirus pandemic makes some voters leery of entering a polling place. It’s also a sharp change from 2016 when requests — and returned mail-in ballots — were evenly split. Trump narrowly won Florida over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and statewide elections are notoriously tight.
However, Republicans have gained some ground in voter registration. Both parties have about 5 million registered Floridians. Democrats have a 183,000-member advantage, down from 330,000 four years ago.
With its 29 electoral votes, Florida is crucial to both candidates but especially so for Trump, who moved his official residence to his Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago from New York last year. A Florida loss would make it nearly impossible for Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/370990-fla-dems-vbm