Florida’s 2022 primary elections are underway, and the first vote-by-mail ballots are trickling in

The first votes of the 2022 primary elections have been cast, with 684 vote-by-mail ballots returned to 41 county elections offices, according to the Florida Division of Elections.

Nearly one-third of the ballots, 217, were returned in Okaloosa County. Next highest was Duval County with 76 ballots.

An initial batch of vote-by-mail ballots went to people overseas and in the military.

Of the ballots returned as of Monday for the Aug. 23 primaries, registered Republicans had submitted 315, while Democrats had submitted 237.

Voters without party affiliation had returned 114, while 18 have come from people registered with third parties.

Of the vote-by-mail ballots requested but not yet returned, 844,279 went to Democrats, 666,216 to Republicans, 388,233 to unaffiliated voters and 32,084 to people registered with third parties.

The deadline for voting in the primaries or changing party affiliation is July 25.

In-person early voting will run from Aug. 13 to Aug. 20 in most counties.

This article appears in Jul 14-20, 2022.