In 1988, Connie Mack defeated Buddy MacKay for Florida’s US Senate seat by just 34,000 votes out of the roughly 4 million cast that year. Mack won on the strength of absentee ballots, and from that came a great Republican advantage in elections.
More than 9 million people will vote in Florida, with around 60% of the votes coming in prior to Election Day. Now the historic Republican absentee advantage has been largely erased by solid programmatic work done by Democrats in recent cycles.
Given the closeness of our elections, votes cast before November 8 will likely determine outcomes.
— David Johnson, The David Johnson Group