Campus Voting Data
The Florida Secretary of State, through the Division of Elections, issued an advisory opinion in 2014 holding that on-campus buildings could not used for early voting. Students at the University of Florida and Florida State University, supported by the Andrew Goodman Foundation and the League of Women Voters of Florida, sued the Secretary to invalidate the opinion.
During a 2018 trial, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker considered if the opinion "categorically bar[ring] early voting on any university or college campus violate[d] the First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." Walker ruled that the opinion was unconstitutional as "[t]hrowing up roadblocks in front of younger voters does not remotely serve the public interest." Walker held that the Secretary erred in interpreting Florida’s election statutes to prohibit campus buildings from being used for early voting.
Following Walker's ruling, Florida supervisors of election were able to provide early voting on university and college campuses beginning with the 2018 midterm election. Ten universities—Florida A&M University (FAMU), Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Florida International University (FIU), Florida State University (FSU), Nova Southeastern University (NSU), University of Central Florida (UCF), University of Florida (UF), University of North Florida (UNF), University of South Florida (USF), and University of West Florida (UWF)—had on-campus early voting locations in 2018.
Campus Voting Data: 2018 and 2020
The charts below show statistics for votes cast at on-campus polling places at Florida universities during the 2018 and 2020 general elections.
Please cite data as:
Phillips, Stephen C. (2020). Florida Campus Voting Data. https://stephencphillips.com