With wide variations throughout the state, 62.1 percent of Florida voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s mid-term elections, according to numbers posted on the state Division of Elections website.
The highest turnout, nearly 77.7 percent, came in Sumter County, which includes a large part of the massive Villages retirement community. Other counties with the highest turnout rates included Jefferson County at 75.6 percent; Collier County at nearly 73.5 percent; Franklin County at 70.8 percent; and St. Johns County at 70.3 percent.
On the other end, Hendry County had the lowest turnout at 50.4 percent. It was followed by Hardee County at 50.7 percent; Bay and Osceola counties at nearly 52.8 percent; and Calhoun County at 53.4 percent.
Counties that sustained major damage in last month’s Hurricane Michael had differing rates. Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Jackson and Washington counties, for example, were each below 59 percent. But Liberty, Wakulla and Franklin were each above the state turnout rate.
The state’s two most-populous counties, Miami-Dade and Broward, had turnout rates of 56.9 percent and about 57.4 percent, respectively.
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