Republicans eke out Democrats in turnout on first day of Florida's early voting

More registered Republicans than Democrats turned out to vote on the first day of early voting in Florida, according to data reviewed by the The Washington Post.

The difference wasn't huge, with 43 percent of those showing up to vote being registered Republicans compared to 42 percent who were registered Democrats. The remaining voters in the group of 339,152 people who cast in-person votes on Monday were third-party or unaffiliated.

Turnout on the first day of early voting in the critical swing state was up nearly 17 percent compared to four years ago when roughly 290,000 cast ballots, the Florida Department of State reported.

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are hotly contesting the state, which Trump won four years ago. Polls show a tight race.

A number of people have already cast write-in ballots, and a total of 2,509,245 voters have already taken part in Florida's election. There are more than 14 million registered voters in the state in total. LINK