TAMPA, Fla. — With early voting coming to an end, the push is on to get people to the polls on Tuesday.
- Volunteers in Tampa to try encourage voter turnout
- 38 percent of registered voters in Pinellas have already cast their ballots
- LATEST NEWS: Decision 2018 | Voting Guide
The races for U.S. Senate and Florida governor remain razor thin. On Saturday, Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Andrew Gillum was in Orlando, and Republican Ron DeSantis spoke to a crowd in Lakeland.
In the greater Tampa Bay area, volunteers with both parties are spending their weekends pounding the pavement. In a politically split county like Pinellas, both sides had dozens of volunteers out making connections with residents.
"You know, maybe they can't make it out to one or two of the fundraisers, but we can go to their doors consistently, and we can keep going back," said John Schmick, who was knocking on doors in St. Petersburg on behalf of the Democratic party.
Each week, Schmick says his team has been catching up with more than 4,000 voters. He says each door knock is also carefully calculated.
"We are speaking to specific people, because we've determined they're very interested in our platform and our beliefs, and we think that they'll back us," he said.
Across the county in Seminole, two longtime volunteers for the Republican Party were making rounds in hopes of starting up conversation.
"We are focusing on people that have not voted yet, and people that are possibly holding on to a mail ballot," explained volunteer Rosemary Mills.
Mills was joined by her friend Donna Norman, and the two were being guided by an app that shows them where to head next and explains who they will be talking to.
"Potentially when we're at the door they may have a question we can answer," she added.
As of Saturday afternoon, 38 percent of registered voters in Pinellas County had already cast their ballots.