ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. -- Election day is Tuesday. Voters across Northwest Florida are getting ready to head to the polls.
For some voters, the reason to head to the polls is pretty simple.
"I just think that it is our right and it's our privilege to be able to vote," voter Julie Swann said.
Escambia County saw more than 46,000 early votes this year, up from 34,000 in 2022 and 39,000 in 2018.
"Again, you have congressional races; you have your US House and US Senate. It's an open governor seat," Escambia County supervisor of elections Robert Bender said. "We are close to 61%, which was what we had in the last open gubernatorial seat. That was the highest turnout we'd had for a midterm."
Compared to the last presidential election, local early voting is not as high locally, but the national trend shows there are more early votes than 2 years ago.
But of course it's a great base to get us started, especially since we are seeing lower statewide numbers for vote by mail, and that does include Escambia County.
There is one proposal getting some voter attention, Amendment 3. It would need 60% of votes to pass.
"I'm interested in the homestead increase one," voter Laurel Morley said. "I'd like to see my mortgage go down. I think that's a popular residential feeling. But also, I'm interested to see if other things will suffer because of it or not."
"We already have a homestead exemption, and really the tax money is what it's needed," voter John Meade said.
Amendment 3 would change Florida's homestead property tax exemption.
Many local governments have raised concerns that passing Amendment 3 would mean cuts for many departments.
"I don't know if maybe a member necessarily drives it, but again, if there's something that someone's interested in, whatever it takes to get them out, we're happy to see them and make sure their voice is heard," Bender said.
Also on the ballot -- the race for governor, between Republican Byron Donald and Democrat David Jolly.
As well as a couple local representatives, city council, and board of commissioner seats.
"You do need to go to your precinct on election day. I know a lot of people will sometimes go to one of those early vote sites," Bender said. "We will have signage up with a QR code that you can scan to find out where you need to go."
You can also check your precinct location by visiting your county's elections website .
There are a couple changes to polling locations for a few precincts. Precinct 35 was moved to Heights Baptist Church due to hurricane damage.
Precinct 14 was moved to Pensacola Main Library due to construction on the Fricker Center.
And precinct 70 is moved to Pensacola Christian College.