■ Trump votes, draws crowd,
President Donald Trump voted in West Palm Beach Saturday morning, drawing a crowd of MAGA-clad, flagwaving supporters who chanted “four more years” and predicted that Florida will stay red.
Trump walked in through a side entrance to cast his ballot as supporters cheered outside, producing a Trump rally-like atmosphere outside the early-voting site at Palm Beach County’s main library on Summit Boulevard.
Trump wore a mask but removed it to talk to the precinct workers gathered inside. He said he felt more secure voting in person than with a mail ballot, which is how he voted in two primary elections earlier this year.
When asked who he voted for, he said, “I voted for a guy named Trump.”
Trump entered the library about 10 a.m., and Wendy Sartory Link, Palm Beach County’s recently elected supervisor of elections, escorted him to the voting booth. By Florida law, no cameras are allowed in the areas where people cast votes.
When the president exited the voting area about 10:15 a.m., he briefly spoke with precinct workers.
He thanked them and said, “It was a very secure vote, much more secure than when you send in a ballot, I can tell you that.”
“Everything was perfect, very strict, right by the rules,” he said. “When you send in your ballot, it could never be like that, it could never be secure like that.”
While Trump was in the library, congressional candidate Laura Loomer showed up outside with a bullhorn to engage voters. Loomer is the Republican far-right activist challenging U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, the longtime Democratic Palm Beach County politician currently in the seat. Frankel represents the congressional district that includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
People started gathering before the polls opened at 7 a.m. hoping to catch a glimpse of the president. They lined the entrance to the polling station and the sidewalk in front of the library, which is across the street from Trump’s golf course.
The reception differed from four years ago when spectators booed Trump as he cast his ballot at a public school in Manhattan near Trump Tower.
The president’s signature song Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” blared from speakers in the library’s parking lot. Supporters in “Make America Great Again” hats waved pro-----Trump flags. A Trump-outfitted bus offered MAGA merchandise for sale.
As the president voted, the crowd cheered “four more years” and “we want Trump.” One man yelled “Give them hell, Trump,” while another shouted “make him king,” eliciting laughs fromthe crowd.
Trump left without speaking to the crowd outside the library. The Secret Service ushered him to the motorcade, which took him to Palm Beach International Airport, and on to rallies in other states.
Alan Mentser, a West Palm Beach resident in a “Keep America Great” shirt, said the turnout shows how passionate Trump’s supporters are in Florida, a crucial state the president must win in November.
“Florida is going for Trump — more than in 2016 — based on the enthusiasm I am seeing this election cycle,” Mentser said.
Maria Lofranco, a Greenacres resident, held a “Keep America Great” flag while she waited for the president’s arrival.
“I think we are going strong with Trump,” she said. “We don’t want communism. We don’t want socialism. We want our freedom and God in our country.”
Trump has tried to link Democratic presidential nominee Joe Bid en with socialist policies, targeting Latino voters in South Florida in particular. Biden says he defeated more left-leaning candidates in his party and is not a socialist.
Elsewhere in Florida, the Trump campaign held “Trump the Vote” events from Miami to the Panhandle, as former President Barack Obama fired up Democratic supporters in Miami.
Small groups of Biden supporters mixed in with the crowd at the early-voting site in Palm Beach County.
Roger Bennett, a Lake Worth Beach resident, held a “Loser” sign with a caricature of Trump as a crying baby.
“I am happy he is voting today, but he is not my favorite person,” Bennett said. “What he has done to this country is a disgrace.”
Four years ago, Trump won Florida by about113,000 votes over Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton. A majority of voters in Democratic-Palm Beach County supported Clinton, who secured 56% of the county’s vote compared with Trump’s 41%.
As Trump left, a poll worker told spectators they needed to be at least 150 feet away from the polling station if they wanted to wave signs supporting candidates.
This was the first time Trump cast a ballot in person since he registered to vote last year in Florida using his Mar-a-Lago address in Palm Beach. He used mail ballots to vote in the March 17 presidential primary and the Aug. 18 primary election.
That’s at odds with his criticism of mail voting, which he has claimed without evidence is rife with fraud.
Trump led rallies in the Villages and in Pensacola on Friday after his appearance at the final presidential debate in Nashville on Thursday. He has three campaign rallies planned for Saturday in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Vice President Mike Pence is also hitting the campaign trail in Florida on Saturday, with stops planned in Lakeland and Tall a has see.
Even with all the campaign events scheduled for the final week before the election, many Floridians have already cast their ballots, either by mail or at early voting sites.
By Saturday morning, 3.6 million Florida voters had submitted their mail ballots and1.7 million had cast votes in person.
Trump praised how Palm Beach County election workers were handling early voting.
“It’s an honor to be voting, an honor to be voting in this great area I know so well,” Trump said.