FSU, FAMU early voting sites see low turnout as primary election looms

With early voting taking place ahead of Tuesday's primary election, Florida State and Florida A&M universities both have sites open for registered students — and community members — to cast their votes.

But the polling sites are looking scarce, in part because many students have not yet returned to the campuses for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 26.

“The turnout is a little slow as students are making their way back into town and dealing with their housing arrangements,” Deputy Supervisor of Elections Chris Moore told the Tallahassee Democrat. “We’re kind of competing with other things on their priority list right now.”

There are 10 polling sites for early voting in Tallahassee, including FAMU’s site at the H. Manning Efferson Student Union building on campus and FSU’s site in its Student Union building this year — a change from its previous locations at the Student Services building last year and the Tucker Civic Center since 2018.

The week-long early voting period began Saturday, Aug. 10 and ends Sunday.

As of Thursday afternoon, 63 early voters cast their ballot at FAMU with an average of about 10 voters a day while FSU had 187 with about 20 to 30 voters on most days, according to an Early Voting Snapshot of the 2024 Primary report.

But when it comes to the general election, the turnout is a lot higher on the college campus sites. During early voting for the 2020 general election, for example, FAMU’s polling site had a turnout of 2,573 voters while FSU had a turnout of 8,744.

Despite the low turnouts at both of the campus sites ahead of the primary, students like FAMU senior and broadcast journalism major Kayla Delcham took advantage of the early voting period. She proudly cast her very first voting ballot on the historically Black university's campus Monday.

“It was a really good experience to actually go in, vote and have my voice be heard,” said Delcham, an Orlando native. “Even though I’m not from Tallahassee, this is somewhere I’ve spent a large chunk of my life. It’s important to have a say in what’s going on in this city and who’s leading it.”

On FSU’s campus, sophomore and business management major Simone Shah cast an early ballot: “A vote unused is a vote wasted,” said Shah, 19, a Jacksonville native. “It’s really important, and it shows that we really do have a say in who our local representatives are.”

While registered voters in Leon County can go to any of the 10 polling sites during early voting, Moore says they will be assigned to a specific precinct for Tuesday’s primary election, which he thinks makes early voting more convenient.

The assigned polling locations for voters can be found on their voter information card or by completing a brief form on Leon County’s Voter Information website.

“We encourage students to even get with their friends to go together if they’d like to,” Moore said. “We try to remind them that voting is not a test. If they make a mistake, they can get another ballot to fix it. It’s not a high-pressure situation.”

For more information

• The FSU and FAMU poll sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day through Sunday.
• The next early voting period is from Oct. 21 to Nov. 3 for the general election on Nov. 5.

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on X: @tarahjean_ .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU, FAMU early voting sites see low turnout as primary election looms