Coronavirus has impacted the Lee County Supervisor of Elections office in a handful of ways for the 2020 Presidential Preference Primary.

Five voting precinct locations needed to be changed at the last minute to avoid the possibility of spreading the disease to vulnerable populations, and hundreds of poll workers have opted out of participating due to health concerns. That’s according to Lee County’s Supervisor of Elections, Tommy Doyle.

“So we are operating on less than 100% of our poll workers at each of our polling locations.”

But despite those challenges, as of 3:30 this afternoon, voter turnout for the Presidential Preference Primary was exceeding Doyle’s expectations.

“Well I was expecting 15,000 [voters], we’ve already had 15,213." Doyle said. “So, it’s going to go above my expectations.”

For the eight days Lee County had early voting, Doyle said  13,800 people voted which is about 20% less than he expected. Doyle said as of Tuesday afternoon his office had received nearly 80,000 vote-by-mail ballots.

Polls close tonight at 7 p.m. Doyle said vote-by-mail ballots can be dropped off until that time at the County Elections Office at 2480 Thompson St. in downtown Fort Myers.