Long lines on day 2 of early voting in Central Florida as turnout remains high

ORLANDO, Fla. — From Winter Park to Merritt Island, there were long lines when day two of early voting began across Central Florida Tuesday morning.

Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles explained COVID-19 restrictions are partially to blame for the lines at some polling locations.

READ: How women voters in Florida could help sway the presidential election

“The libraries are still doing a capacity requirement...so one of the reasons voters had to wait outside longer is because they’re allowing us to bring capacity of 50 percent into their buildings,” Cowles said.

Overall, Cowles said they expected Tuesday’s turnout because of how busy the first day was.

“We did almost 17,000 voters.”

Cowles said that’s comparable to the numbers they had in 2016, but this year has seen a large increase in vote-by-mail ballots. Cowles says more than 150,000 have already been returned.

READ: Early voting surges across battlegrounds, Florida on pace to pass 70% before election day

“We started processing the vote-by-mail ballots yesterday. That’s where we open them up and start them through the machine,” Cowles said.

He says, in all, they sent out more than 350 thousand mail ballots.

Cox Media Group