Record number of mail-in ballots dwarfs early and Election Day voting in Lee and Collier

Despite some voters' concerns about casting ballots by mail, the record number of Lee and Collier residents who voted by mail in Tuesday's primaries dwarfed those who voted early and in-person on Election Day, preliminary tallies show.

As a result, elections offices said they had no issues with long lines, breaches of social distancing rules or overburdened poll workers. Visits by reporters to a variety of polling stations throughout the two counties confirmed those reports.

"We are very pleased with the amount of voters who decided to vote by mail," said Trish Roberston, spokeswoman for the Collier County Supervisor of Elections. "We always see a higher vote-by-mail turnout during primaries, but not by this margin."

At the close of polls Tuesday night, nearly 55,000 Collier County residents had voted by mail, compared to 7,753 who voted early and about 15,200 who voted on Election Day. In 2018, 37,159 voters in Collier cast ballots by mail in the primary. In 2016's primary, 34,753 did so.

It was the same story in Lee County, where more than 110,000 voted by mail, compared to 11,081 who voted early and the roughly 27,000 who voted Tuesday. The primary election vote-by-mail numbers in 2016 and 2018 were 86,009 and 76,198, respectively.

Overall turnout was 30.5% in Lee County, according to preliminary returns. Turnout was 36.3% in Collier.

Statewide, about 2.2 million cast their ballots by mail by midday, a million more than voted that way four years ago.

Secretary of State Laurel Lee said her office had contacted Florida’s 67 election supervisors who reported no serious problems with in-person voting at polling places.

Those who did show up to vote on Election Day in Southwest Florida said they prefer voting in person or have some doubts about casting their ballots through the mail.

The U.S. Postal Service continues to struggle financially, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the process outside Florida, even though roughly two-thirds of the states have a system similar to Florida's. Palm Beach County's elections office received his mailed ballot on Monday.

One voter, Paul McFarland of Fort Myers, said he prefers to vote in person, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Why not? We go to Publix, to Walmart and Costco," McFarland said. "I'm not sure I trust the mail. I don't know if (my ballot) will be counted."

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At Our Lady of Light Catholic Community Church off Cypress View Drive in Fort Myers, a trickle of voters could be seen donning masks and preparing to cast ballots.

"It's a tradition," said Tom Haberkorn of Fort Myers. "I feel it takes more effort. I think we should put a lot of effort into voting. I feel strongly that they should have places like this for people to come to."

In neighboring Collier County, Stacey Marinaro, a resident for 28 years, recently had surgery so it was more of a hardship than usual for her to get out to vote.

Still, Marinaro said she feels voting in person is very important and felt comfortable with the safety measures to protect against COVID-19 that were in place at her polling location at North Collier Regional Park. 

“Would you mail in your winning lottery ticket?” Marinaro said when asked if she considered voting by mail because of COVID-19.

This article includes reporting by Jake Allen, Mike Braun, Kaitlin Greenockle and John Kennedy. Frank Gluck is a watchdog reporter with The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. Connect with him at fgluck@news-press.com or on Twitter: @FrankGluck.

In case you missed it:Here's everything you need to know about Collier County primaries, candidates

And:Here's everything you need to know about Lee County primaries, candidates