5,535 Votes at FSU, 2,541 at FAMU: Tallahassee's Campus Early-Voting Sites Nearly Tripled Their 2022 Totals
The two campus early voting sites drew 8,076 ballots between them — FSU's site alone cast almost three times its 2022 total, and FAMU's cast five times its own.
Tallahassee's two campus early voting sites finished the early voting period with numbers that dwarf their last midterm. According to figures from the Leon County Supervisor of Elections reported by the FSView, 5,535 ballots were cast at the Florida State University Student Union site and 2,541 at the Florida A&M University Student Union site before early voting ended Sunday, Nov. 1.
The comparison with the most recent comparable election is stark. In the 2022 general election, 1,985 voters cast early ballots at FSU and 507 at FAMU — meaning FSU's site nearly tripled its total and FAMU's multiplied roughly five times over. Alice Mosca, public information specialist for the Leon County Supervisor of Elections, told the FSView the site totals can act as a rough approximation for student voter turnout: both sites were open to all Leon County voters, not only students, and students could also vote by mail in their home counties or at other sites.
The party registration of the ballots cast on campus leaned heavily Democratic. By the end of early voting, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans approximately six to one among ballots cast at the FSU Student Union, and almost sixty to one at FAMU, according to the Supervisor of Elections data reported by the FSView. The single biggest campus day came on Thursday, Oct. 29, when the Noles to the Polls march brought mayoral candidate Jeremy Matlow and City Commission Seat 3 candidate PJ Perez to vote alongside students — 674 registered voters cast ballots at the FSU Union that day, its second-highest single-day total of the period.
Site staff also spent the period correcting a common misconception. FSU early voting site clerk Joseph Rodriguez told the FSView that many students believed they could not vote in Tallahassee if they were not already registered here. "It's a real simple process to get them registered in Tallahassee on the spot," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said the FSU site was the third busiest early voting site in the county. Students who have not yet voted have one route left: their assigned precinct on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — and any voter in line by 7 p.m. may still vote under Florida law.
