Florida’s primary will go on as scheduled Tuesday despite the outbreak.
Florida’s primary election on Tuesday will go on as scheduled despite the coronavirus outbreak, Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee said Friday.
But two polling places have been changed in Central Florida because of their locations in assisted living facilities or nursing homes.
In a joint statement with other state elections chiefs overseeing primaries on Tuesday, including Arizona Secretary of State Kathy Hobbs, Illinois Elections Board Chairman Charles Scholz and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Lee said they were “working closely with our state health officials to ensure that our poll workers and voters can be confident that voting is safe.”
The statement came in the wake of news that Louisiana had postponed its April 4 primary until June 20 and its May 9 general election until July 25.
“Unlike concerts, sporting events or other mass gatherings where large groups of people travel long distances to congregate in a confined space for an extended period of time, polling locations see people from a nearby community coming into and out of the building for a short duration,” Lee and the other officials said in the statement.
They added that guidance is being given to elections offices and poll workers about making sure machines and polling sites would be clean and sanitized.
“Americans have participated in elections during challenging times in the past, and based on the best information we have from public health officials, we are confident that voters in our states can safely and securely cast their ballots in this election,” they wrote.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said much the same thing, only more bluntly, at a Friday news conference.
“We’re definitely voting,” DeSantis said. “We voted in the Civil War.”
Unlike in Louisiana, where early voting was set to begin later this month and vote-by-mail is only open to select people, including senior citizens and students, Florida has had early voting since Monday and has widespread voting by mail.
DeSantis’s order declaring a state of emergency earlier this week allows elections officials to move polling locations out of assisted living facilities and nursing homes where there is an older, at-risk population.
In Orange County, the polling site for Precinct 431 in Lake Nona was moved to the nearby Orlando Fire Station 16.
Orange County elections supervisor Bill Cowles said robocalls have gone out to residents in that precinct, Boy Scouts will knock on doors, yard signs will go up, and someone will be at the former location to direct them to the firehouse.
In Osceola County, a polling location for Precinct 106 at the Good Samaritan Village assisted living facility in Kissimmee is being moved to Pleasant Hill Elementary School, supervisor Mary Jane Arrington said.
In Lake County, supervisor Alan Hays said polling places at three assisted living facilities are staying in place because they serve only those facilities’ residents and not any outside residents.
Supervisors said poll workers have been provided with hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes and are following all guidelines from the state.
Arrington reminded Osceola voters that early voting continues there until Sunday.
“Now’s the time to come and vote,” Arrington said. “There’s no crowd, you walk right in, no contact with anyone but us.”
In Orange County, 18 early voting locations will be available across the county to cast an early ballot. Early voting in Orange lasts each day until Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Voting locations are listed at ocfelections.com.
Voters of any party and unaffiliated voters can also vote in municipal elections in Apopka, Belle Isle, Eatonville, Maitland, Winter Garden and Winter Park, and can cast votes at any of the early voting locations.
In Osceola County, seven early voting locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day until Sunday. The locations are listed at voteosceola.com.
In Lake County, 11 early voting locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day until Saturday. Locations are listed at lakevotes.com.
In Seminole County, seven early voting locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day until Saturday. Locations are listed at www.voteseminole.org.