It may be no surprise, but the number of early voters is 30 percent below what it was in the 2008 general election, according to state election officials. In a report by the Associated Press, the Secretary of State’s office said that as of 4 p.m. this afternoon, 219,419 voters had cast ballots, and 17,765 absentee ballots have been returned.
That compares to 340,964 votes cast by the same time on the same Friday before the 2008 general election.
State election officials have noted that the 2008 turnout was probably due to the fact that a presidential election – and a major one at that – headlined that year’s ballot.