Florida holds its Primary Election on Tuesday, August 20, and already thousands of Southwest Floridians have chosen candidates by mail-in ballots or by voting early.
Others will vote Tuesday in the closed primary to pick a party's nominee for an office, or to choose a winner in non-partisan contests.
People in the elections offices predict turnout based on the number of mail-in and early voting ballots. And they look at past primaries.
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Collier County may have the most hotly-contested races in Southwest Florida. It has contested races for two school board seats, two county commission seats, election supervisor and property appraiser.
The Collier elections office is projecting a turnout of 30 percent of eligible voters. That's about the same as 2022, but quite short of 2020. That year featured a battle for the Republican nomination for an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Byron Donalds eventually won. Turnout in 2020 in Collier was 36 percent.
Lee County also is projecting a 30 percent turnout this year. That compares to 26.5 two years ago, and nearly 32 percent in 2020.
The Charlotte county elections supervisor is hoping for 30 percent turnout of eligible voters. That would be a bit of an achievement because Charlotte has not reached 30 percent in the past 16 years. Charlotte had 21 percent turnout in the primary four years ago.
All counties will open their polling places for voting from 7 Tuesday morning until 7 p.m.
WGCU News is your trusted source for coverage of Southwest Florida. Mike Walcher is a reporter at WGCU News, and can be reached at mwalcher@wgcu.org