Historical Turnout in Indian River County for the 2024 General Elections.

More than 80% of registered voters in the county participated in casting ballots. The state of Florida’s election system is the model for the nation.

As of Friday, it has been determined that 100,141 residents have cast ballots in Indian River County. The historical number represents 82.84% of eligible voters in Indian River. “This is the first time the county had over 100,000 voters,” said Supervisor of Elections, Leslie Swan. However, in terms of turnout, she clarified,  “It is not the highest turnout, but it was definitely up there with 82.84%.  It is the highest turnout since the 2000 Presidential Elections.”

Supervisor Swan noted that in 1992, turnout was 84.75% which featured Bill Clinton and noted 3rd party candidate Ross Perot against incumbent, George Bush. The next two ranked elections for turnout were Reagan’s 1980 election followed by his 1984 re-election which were both at 84%. 

President-elect, Donald Trump won with 56% of the vote in the state of Florida versus 43% for vice-president, Kamala Harris. Locally, Mr. Trump received 63% of the vote in Indian River County. What was fascinating is that over 50% of that vote came in the Early Vote phase of the election season. The county turnout pattern which was mirrored across the state was a demonstrative microcosm of the Trump campaign strategy. 

Many political observers noted the “Swamp the Vote” messaging of the Trump campaign was created to confuse their opponent’s calculations derived from historical turnout patterns. Legacy media said that Mr. Trump was contradicting his earlier claims regarding the dangers of extended mail-in ballots and early voting. 

Democrats depended on Republicans to traditionally show up on Election Day. By the end of early voting, 50-75% of the Republican vote was cast depending on which state’s electorate you study. Republicans were running ahead, or even with Democrats in swing states. Democrats did not  entirely know on Election Day what they needed to achieve victory. 

For example in 2016, Early voting was 9% in Indian River County. While history shows that in 2020 the early vote was 30% because of COVID, expectations were that the majority of Republican turnout would return to traditional behavior on Election Day. Yet locally, early voting was 37% in 2024 according to Supervisor Swan. 

While Florida was not a swing state, it shows the strategy to swamp early voting options available to the electorate in 2024. Across the state of Florida, compared to Democrats, over 1 million more Republicans came out to vote early in-person. Over 8.1 million votes were cast early. That represents almost 60% of the 14 million registered voters in the state. 

Overall, elections ran smoothly. Ms. Swan said, “There were no significant issues with early voting or on election day. My team at the Elections Office did an amazing job, as well as our Election Workers.  I also extend my appreciation to our IRC Board of County Commissioners who provide me with my budget that allows me to conduct efficient elections with state-of-the-art technology.”

Florida has become the gold-standard for state management of elections. Arizona is still counting. On Thursday, Arizona Senate President, Warren Petersen, said,  "I have tried without success to shift us to the Florida model that has a Friday cutoff to drop off early ballots.  Current delay is from counting the mail ballots dropped day of, which have to be signature verified. Maybe I can get enough support now to get it to the finish line.”

Florida Secretary of State, Cord Byrd, noted Mr. Petersen’s comment on his X account saying, “We are always ready and willing to share the Florida blueprint on how to run elections.” 

On November 19, 2024 The Florida Division of Elections will certify official returns.