I-4 absentee-vote war: Early votes dominating from Tampa Bay to Orlando to Daytona

Polls tell us something about the state of the race in Florida. Absentee-ballot votes show us (column here).

Specifically the data show that the I-4 corridor, the central battleground of the nation's biggest battleground state is the most-contested region of the state when it comes to voting absentee ballots, according to a Miami Herald analysis.

Just head east on I-4 from the two biggest counties for returns Tampa Bay's Pinellas County (1) and Hillsborough (2), which is bordered on the east by Polk (7), which is bordered on the east by Orlando's Orange County (4), which is bordered on the east by Daytona's Volusia (6), the end of the I-4 roadway.

Those are the counties strictly on I-4. Sarasota (5) is just a little south of Tampa Bay and Pasco (10) is on the north borders of Hillsborough and Pinellas.

Only Miami-Dade (3), Marion (8) and Duval (9) are outside of the corridor (although Mario sort of touches Volusia).

More than 327,000 have been cast so far (a little background here). And the top ten counties account for 57 percent of them. Democrats are doing best in the top 5, Republicans in 6-10. The GOP is winning the overall absentee-vote chase 44-40 percent.

But there is some Republican wonderment at the Democrats' success, especially in Tampa Bay. When we asked Sen. Jack Latvala, a St. Petersburg Republican/Bay-area campaign expert, about what the Democrats are up to, he said tersely by text: "Wish I knew. Been wondering."

Here are the top 10 so far:

County	Total	%	DEM	REP	R/D
PIN	43,797	13%	17,890	17,654	(236)
HIL	29,277	9%	12,692	11,679	(1,013)
DAD	24,963	8%	9,566	11,263	1,697
ORA	20,164	6%	9,247	7,730	(1,517)
SAR	16,996	5%	7,421	7,114	(307)
VOL	12,307	4%	4,469	5,746	1,277
POL	11,011	3%	4,680	4,733	53
MRN	10,537	3%	4,232	4,876	644
DUV	10,535	3%	4,014	5,180	1,166
PAS	9,473	3%	3,810	4,003	193

Comments

[Kevin]

My wife and I voted early for Obama in Pinellas County.Her Hispanic-dominated family in Orlando is all voting early for Obama thanks to the Republican efforts to surpress their votes and treat them like second class citizens.

[Jimmy]

My Hispanic wife and family will all vote for Romney. My wife is a doctor and understands how devastating Obamacare is to America.

[U. Cando Better]

"Said tersely by text"? What, do you want War and Peace in a text? Do I have to explain texts are short?

[Pedro]

The Republicans want to discourage Early Voting. They should be ashamed of themselves for putting their party above the general welfare. We will have long lines. Blame the Republicans when you are impatient while standing in a long line. We should have more Early Voting days and hours. Governor Charlie Crist did the right thing in 2008 by extending Early Voting hours. Don't hold your breath regarding Rick Scott doing the same thing. How could we have elected this embarrassment of a governor?