截至周一，佛罗里达一半以上的县已经开始提前投票-选举日前15天——尽管唐纳德·特朗普和其他一些共和党人呼吁等到11月8日，但州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯敦促支持者尽快投票。

德桑蒂斯做出了选举诚信是一个关键问题自从特朗普开始鼓吹2020年选举被盗的虚假说法，并支持为此采取的各种措施，包括建立选举警察部队这使得有争议的欺诈逮捕八月。

但这位州长也一再指出，佛罗里达州的选民应该对自己的选举充满信心，并对提前或通过邮件投票充满信心，特朗普毫无根据地批评这两种方法允许欺诈。

ABC新闻记者小组深入战场州了解更多信息，在Hulu上观看“权力之旅:寻求权力的人和追逐权力的人”，周日有新一集。

在回到1997年的小道后伊恩飓风的余波，德桑蒂斯在这个问题上与特朗普分裂。这位前总统在10月9日告诉内华达州的集会者，提前投票将使民主党更容易作弊。他没有提供证据。

然而，德桑蒂斯的信息是:任何形式的投票都可以。

在竞选活动中，他有时会做记录。"你们中有多少人要进行邮件投票?"他问道。“早亲自来了?”他补充道。当他问到“选举日”时，沉默变成了欢呼。

周日在巴尔港，德桑蒂斯收回了这一偏好，告诉拥挤的犹太社区中心尽快前往投票站，以避免两周内的“穆里根”。

“如果你等到选举日，你有一个轮胎瘪了，你不能带一个穆里根，”德桑蒂斯当时说。“而如果你提前投票，你就成功了，你就在罐子里。如果(在路上)发生了什么，你还有机会。”

“我们不能对此自满，”他接着说。

像德桑蒂斯这样的民主党人一直建议提前投票。“我鼓励你不要等到选举日，”挑战卢比奥的参议院提名人瓦尔·戴明斯(Val Demings)周一在Twitter上写道。

佛罗里达州是一个常年摇摆不定的州，是今年中期选举周期几场关键比赛的所在地，尽管鉴于选民不支持总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)以及对经济和通胀的担忧，共和党人对他们的机会持乐观态度。

例如，德桑蒂斯比民主党对手查理·克里斯特高出约8个百分点538次平均投票。他和前佛罗里达州州长克里斯特将于周一在南佛罗里达进行单独的对决。

尽管提前亲自投票开始不到一天，但州数据显示，近120万佛罗里达人已经通过邮件发送了选票。弗罗里达大学的政治学教授和投票率研究者迈克尔·麦克唐纳告诉美国广播公司，这次中期选举的投票率正在向2018年看齐这是自1914年以来最高的中期选举投票率。

根据各州选举部门的数据，迄今为止，注册的民主党人在邮件投票中占据优势，比他们的共和党对手多投了近5万张票。

然而，要求减少40多万张邮寄选票的共和党人正在以更高的速度退回他们的选票。在佛罗里达州，无论谁在2020年要求邮寄选票，都会在2022年自动收到一张。麦克唐纳说，由于上一个总统周期民主党人的邮件投票率很高，请求的差异很可能是由于2020年的遗留问题，而不仅仅是民主党人对2022年投票方式的热情。

从历史上看，佛罗里达州的民主党人在早期亲自投票时比共和党人更多，而共和党则在选举日看到更多的人。

但在2020年，随着民主党人在新冠肺炎疫情越来越青睐邮件投票，共和党人也开始在早期亲自投票中领先。麦克唐纳说。

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Unite and Win Rally in support of Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano at the Wyndham Hotel, Aug. 19, 2022, in Pittsburgh, Pa.

杰夫·斯文森/盖蒂图片社

麦克唐纳说:“佛罗里达州的共和党人认为，允许这些不同形式的投票并加以推广不会带来太大的威胁，因为他们知道，他们的竞选活动能够让他们的支持者出局。”

“德桑蒂斯的竞选资金非常非常雄厚。所以他们有了一台可以动员选民的机器，”他补充道。

同样寻求连任的共和党参议员马尔科·卢比奥周一举行了一场集会，以推动提前亲自投票。他回应了特朗普对其他提前投票方法的一些怀疑。在上周与戴明斯的一次辩论中，卢比奥说“投递箱存在危险”，因为有人可能会攻击它们。

其他州的共和党人都批评提前投票，并鼓励他们的选民用亚利桑那州州长候选人卡莉·莱克所说的“你想用什么方式就用什么方式”本月早些时候。

“如果你有邮寄选票，我认为你应该邮寄。我希望人们投票，”莱克接着说。另外，她最近向ABC新闻建议她不喜欢“选举日”变成了“选举季”

对戴明斯来说，她已经花了两天时间从狭长地带巡回到基斯岛去拉选票。

尽管民主党人在邮件投票请求方面遥遥领先，但许多投票仍然悬而未决。

“民主党面临的挑战将是真正激发选民的积极性。如果他们可以，我们将开始在统计中看到它，”麦克唐纳说。

DeSantis breaks with Trump on early voting: 'Can't be complacent'

With early voting underway in more than half of Florida's counties as of Monday --15 days before Election Day-- Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging supporters to cast their ballots sooner rather than later, despite calls from Donald Trump and some other Republicans to wait until Nov. 8.

DeSantis has madeelection integrity a key issuesince Trump began trumpeting false claims of a stolen 2020 election and has supported various measures to that end, including the creation of an election police forcewhich made controversial fraud arrestsin August.

But the governor has also repeatedly noted that Florida voters should feel confident in their own elections -- and feel confident voting early or by mail, two methods that Trump has baselessly criticized as allowing fraud.

For more from ABC News' team of reporters embedded in battleground states,watch "Power Trip: Those Seeking Power and Those Who Chase Them" on Hulu, with new episodes on Sunday.

After returning to the trail inthe wake of Hurricane Ian, DeSantis split with Trump on this issue. The former president told Nevada rally-goers on Oct. 9 that voting early would make it easier for Democrats to cheat. He didn't provide evidence.

DeSantis' message, though, is: Any form of voting will do.

At campaign events, he sometimes takes a tally. "How many of you are going to do a mail ballot?" he asks. "Early in person?" he adds. Silence turns into cheers when he asks about "Election Day."

On Sunday in Bal Harbour, DeSantis pushed back on that preference, telling a packed Jewish community center to get to the polls as soon as possible to avoid a "mulligan" in two weeks.

"If you wait till Election Day, you get a flat tire, you can't take a mulligan," DeSantis said then. "Whereas if you vote early, you do it, you're in the can. If something happens [while you're on your way], you got another shot at it."

"We can't be complacent about this," he added then.

Democrats, like DeSantis, have been recommending early voting. "I encourage you not to wait until Election Day," Val Demings, the Senate nominee challenging Rubio, wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Florida, a perennial swing state, is the site of several key races this midterm cycle, though Republicans there are optimistic about their chances given voters' disapproval of President Joe Biden and concerns over the economy and inflation.

DeSantis, for example, is up by about 8 points over Democratic opponent Charlie Crist, according to theFiveThirtyEight polling average. He and Crist, a former Florida governor, will debate Monday during their lone face-off, in South Florida.

Though early in-person voting began less than a day ago, nearly 1.2 million Floridians have already sent in their mail ballots, state data shows. Michael McDonald, a political science professor and voter turnout researcher at the University of Florida, told ABC News that turnout for this midterm electionis shaping up to be on par with 2018, which had the highest turnout of any midterm since 1914.

Registered Democrats have the edge in mail voting thus far, casting almost 50,000 more votes than their Republican counterparts, according to the state Divisions of Elections.

Yet Republicans, who have requested over 400,000 fewer mail ballots, are returning the ones they have at a higher rate. In Florida, whoever requested a mail ballot in 2020 was automatically sent one in 2022. Due to high Democrat mail turnout during the last presidential cycle, it is likely that the disparity in requests is due to the carryover from 2020 and not simply enthusiasm by Democrats about the voting method in 2022, McDonald said.

Historically, Democrats in Florida have turned out more than Republicans for early in-person voting while the GOP then sees larger numbers on Election Day.

But in 2020, as Democrats increasingly favored mail ballots amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans also began to lead in early in-person voting. McDonald said.

"Republicans in the state of Florida don't see as much of a threat from allowing those different forms of voting and promoting it, because they know that their campaigns are capable of turning their supporters out," McDonald said.

"DeSantis has very, very deep pockets for his campaign. So they've got a machine that can do the voter mobilization," he added.

GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, who is also seeking reelection, held a rally on Monday to promote early in-person voting. He has echoed some of Trump's suspicions about other early voting methods. At a debate last week with Demings, Rubio said that "there's danger involved in drop boxes" because someone could attack them.

Republicans in other states have both criticized early voting periods and encouraged their voters to use "whatever way you want," as Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake put itearlier this month.

"If you have a mail-in ballot, I think that you should mail it in. I want people to vote," Lake said then. Separately, sherecently suggested to ABC Newsthat she didn't like that "Election Day" had become "election season."

Demings, for her part, has spent the last two days touring from the Panhandle to the Keys to get out the vote.

Although Democrats have a substantial mail-ballot request lead, many of those votes remain outstanding.

"The challenge is going to be for the Democrats to really motivate their voters. And if they can, we'll start seeing it in the statistics," McDonald said.