Voters are forming lines at polling locations on the first day of early voting in Florida, the biggest presidential swing state.
At Miramar's Public Library on Saturday, voters told Local 10's Christina Vasquez they were enthused by the long wait.
"This is incredible. This is wonderful to see so many people showing up, excited about their voting rights and privileges," said Donald Clark.
"This is great," said Sally Perez. "This is what democracy is all about."
Early Voting Locations:Miami-Dade County | Broward County
This year's early voting period is shorter than in previous elections. The state legislature reduced the period from 14 days to 8 this year. Voting rights groups concerned about problems with access unsuccessfully challenged the reduced time frame in the courts.
A large crowd gathered for a rally outside the Stephen P. Clark Center before the polling site opened Saturday. The event was headlined by Civil Rights Activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Organizers said they not only want to motivate people to vote early, but also to protest the shortened early voting period.
"I'm going to tour all day today... We are determined to fight for our voting rights. No matter for who people vote for," said. Rev. Sharpton.
The rally is part of a nationwide campaign aimed at raising awareness about voter suppression.
Rev. Sharpton said the state's decision to lower the number of early voting days is an attempt to keep minorities out of the polls.
The average wait time at the Stephen P. Clark Center Saturday morning was a half hour.
Both Miami-Dade and Broward counties have estimated wait times for each early voting location on their web sites.
According officials, more than 1.1 million Floridians have already cast ballots through mail-in absentee voting.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney is in Florida to help to kick-off his party's early voting efforts. President Barack Obama is expected in the state Monday.
Groups on both sides of the political spectrum are organizing early voting drives in hopes of getting their supporters to the polls.
Florida has nearly 12 million voters who will be eligible to vote in the crucial presidential election.
State officials Saturday released new voter registration numbers that show that the number of active voters has grown 6 percent to a total of 11.94 million.
President Barack Obama carried Florida in 2008, but he is locked in a very tight race with GOP rival Mitt Romney in the swing state that could decide the election.
The new registration numbers show the gap between Republicans and Democrats is smaller than it was in 2008. There are nearly 536,000 more Democrats than Republicans. There are 4.78 million Democrats and 4.24 million Republicans.
The number of voters not affiliated with any party, however, grew at a substantially faster rate than either major party.
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