TAMPA, Fla. — There are two reasons why voter turnout is on track to be higher than 2011 for this year's Mayoral Election.
The first reason — mail in ballots are already being returned at a greater rate than 8 years ago.
"We've gotten back over 17 thousand vote by mail ballots. I've sent out almost 59 thousand so we're still lagging there,” said Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer.
The second reason — the City of Tampa has added 25,000 more voters to the rolls since the 2011 municipal elections.
In 2011, there were 190,000 registered voters in Tampa. Now, there are 237,000.
Latimer says in 2011, 60 percent of voters voted on Election Day. But, the turnout rate was still very low at 22 percent.
