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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Anticipating a substantial increase in voter turnouts for the upcoming midterm elections, Broward County is expanding in-person early voting locations.

Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott announced he’s planning to open 30 more early voting sites for the August Primary and November’s general election.

He said the expansion is about a 43 percent increase from the 21 current locations.

The expansion also includes longer operating hours.

For the November election, each site will be open for 14 days of early voting, operating 12 hours per day.

The August primary will have nine days of early voting at nine hours per day.

“We realize that fewer people are going to vote by mail because of the efforts that the state has made to make it harder for people to vote by mail,” Scott said. “But we can make it easier for people to vote early, in person, by adding more (locations). We’ll have even more early voting sites than we’ve ever had before, more communication to make sure that the public is aware that these early voting sites are there and they can vote anywhere in the county.”

Some Democrats and voters raised concerns that ICE agents might be hanging around the voting places.

But during a local Democratic event, Scott assured that access is restricted within 150 feet of the polling site entrances.