Nearly 6.42 million Florida voters cast ballots during early voting period

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Roughly half of all active registered voters in Florida have cast ballots, sparked by a surge during the final days of early voting.

Numbers released Monday by the state Division of Elections show that nearly 6.42 million voters have either voted early or voted by mail. There are nearly 12.9 million active registered voters.

Early voting wrapped up over the weekend. Election supervisors can continue to accept mailed in ballots.

The new numbers show Democrats have built up a more than 87,000 vote lead over Republicans. So far, 2.55 million Democrats have voted compared to 2.47 million Republicans.

More than 1.23 million voters registered with no party affiliation have also voted.

Almost a million voters took advantage of early voting in South Florida. More than 426,000 voters cast their ballots in Broward County, while more than 475,000 people voted early in Miami-Dade County. Those numbers don't include absentee ballots.

Florida could surpass its overall vote total from 2012. During that presidential election, more than 8.5 million people voted.