Pinellas County voters were already closing in on the previous election cycle’s turnout before lunchtime today, with thousands more voters still expected to head to the polls before they close at 7 p.m.
As of 11:40 a.m., unofficial voter turnout had reached 23.25%, according to Pinellas County election data. Of the county’s 605,325 active eligible voters listed in the turnout report, 140,759 ballots had already been recorded. Conversely, the 2021 primary election’s final voter turnout was 29.4% in Pinellas.
That includes 18,851 Election Day votes cast since polls opened at 7 a.m. Another 4,405 mail ballots were recorded today, bringing the day’s total so far to 23,256.
For some perspective, turnout during the last comparable election cycle was around 28%, meaning Pinellas was already within roughly five percentage points of that mark with more than seven hours of Election Day voting remaining.
The comparison is particularly notable because Election Day voting represents only a fraction of the ballots already cast. Early voting began Aug. 8 and concluded Sunday. During that period, voters steadily trickled into early voting locations while tens of thousands of vote by mail ballots were also returned.
The county’s turnout data shows the bulk of participation so far came through mail ballots. Early voting accounted for a considerably smaller portion, while Election Day voters are now beginning to augment the total – those numbers remain unofficial.
In St. Petersburg, much of the attention is trained on the crowded mayoral election, where incumbent Mayor Ken Welch is facing former Gov. Charlie Crist, City Councilmember Brandi Gabbard, former St. Petersburg Fire Chief Jim Large, former Shore Acres Civic Association president Kevin Batdorf and former St. Petersburg NAACP president Maria Scruggs.
The election could also end the mayoral contest tonight: St. Petersburg’s municipal elections are nonpartisan, and if one mayoral candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, that candidate wins outright and avoids a November runoff. If nobody clears that threshold, the top two finishers advance.
Several City Council races are also on the ballot, along with county and state contests that have drawn their own campaign spending and attention.
While voters continue casting ballots, campaigns across St. Petersburg are preparing for a different kind of gathering tonight.
Watch parties are scheduled throughout the city as candidates, supporters and volunteers gather to monitor the tallies after polls close.
Those parties will provide the backdrop for a night that could settle some races and extend others into November. For now, however, there are still hours left to vote. Polls remain open until 7 p.m. Voters who are in line at their polling place by 7 p.m. are permitted to cast a ballot, with unofficial results expected to begin coming in after polls close.
With turnout at 23.25% before noon, it’s hard to tell whether Pinellas will surpass the participation rate from the last election cycle, which was 29.4% voter turnout.