Florida woman in labor showed up to vote, refused go to hospital until she cast her ballot

A pregnant Florida woman in labor refused to go to the hospital to give birth Tuesday afternoon until after she cast her ballot in the U.S. presidential election.

The determined voter had her husband run into the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office to fetch her a mail-in ballot while she waited in the car at the office's parking lot, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Eileen Deliz, an early voting clerk for the Supervisor of Elections, told the Sentinel that the woman's husband spoke with a customer service representative who gave him the ballot and waited as she filled it out in her car. She said neither the woman nor her husband told election officials why she insisted on voting while she was in labor.

Danaë Rivera-Marasco, communications and community outreach coordinator for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, said the unidentified woman was already in labor when she arrived to request her ballot.

Deliz speculated that the woman may have wanted to vote in-person but went into labor before she had the opportunity.

"Maybe she wanted to come in-person at one point and that's why she was waiting, who knows. But she wouldn't go to the hospital until she voted," Deliz said.

She added that elections staff were thrilled by her enthusiasm for voting.

"We are very, very busy, but when something like that happens it just makes our day," Deliz said. "It kind of validates what we do [and] the importance of voting. Every election cycle brings us a great little story."

According to the Sentinel's report, after turning in her ballot the woman's husband drove her to Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital.

Florida is considered a pivotal swing state in the 2020 election. The state permits early voting, allowing voters to request a ballot by mail or vote early in-person at 10 days before Election Day. According to WFOR-TV, 41% of eligible voters in Florida have already cast their ballots, totaling more than 6.4 million votes.

More than 65.5 million votes have already been cast in the 2020 presidential election, already more than half of the total votes cast for the presidential election in 2016.

With six days remaining before the election, President Donald Trump has taken a slight lead ahead of Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the RealClearPolitics average of Florida polls. Trump will campaign in the Sunshine State on Thursday after completing rallies on Wednesday in Arizona.