Safe, slow, mostly by mail
Many polling places empty as 3.7M state residents cast ballots
Poll workers were masked and gloved, and voters were kept 6 feet apart. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Central Florida had a relatively smooth primary Tuesday as election workers got in a successful test run for the much bigger contest in the fall.
At least 3.7 million Floridians voted in the election, a turnout that should exceed the 27% turnout in 2018 and the 24% in 2016.
But many polling places were empty, as almost three out of four primary voters decided to vote early or by mail.
At the First Unitarian
Church of Orlando, a bottle of disinfectant wipes sat next to a pile of “Vote (I did!)” stickers, and a large sheet of Plexiglas stood between voters and the poll workers handing out ballots.
“There was no one in there,” said Matthew Bauer, 59. “Of course, I felt safe in there. I always vote. I thought it would be fine here. I think it’s important
to keep up the protection against COVID. And they’re wiping everything down.”
Statewide, a record of more than 2.7 million voters either cast ballots by mail or voted early as of midday Tuesday, making up almost 20% of the nearly 14 million total registered voters in Florida. By comparison, just more than 15% of registered voters either voted early or by mail in the August 2018 primary.
Voting by mail also set a record for an August primary, despite no U.S. Senate or governor’s race on the ballot, with more than 2.2 million mail-in ballots received. By comparison, fewer than 1.4 million mail-ins were cast in August 2018. The final numbers should make mail-in voting alone more than half of all votes cast.
Democrats also outpaced Republicans in voting by mail, with about 1.1 million Democratic mail-in ballots to the GOP’s 766,000.
Concerns about U.S. Postal Service slowdowns also may have led more voters to drop off their mail-in ballots instead. In the hour before closing, cars were backed up outside the main elections office in Orange County waiting to drop off ballots, but Supervisor Bill Cowles said no one was left in line when polls closed at 7 p.m.
Voter turnout in Orange was about 23.5%, less than the 25% in August 2018 but well ahead of the 18% in 2016.
Coronavirus protections also meant continuous cleaning and disinfecting at polling places. Seminole County Elections created a “disposable stylus” made out of a wet Q-Tip and aluminum foil, creating just enough electric charge to sign a monitor.
Osceola Supervisor MaryJane Arrington said in-person voting was far slower than normal, but the county still had the highest primary turnout in more than two decades, about 24%, in part because of the record number of mail-in
ballots.
At the Osceola County Welcome Center, senior Onelia Colón knew her age left her more vulnerable to the highly contagious coronavirus. But she said she felt safe.
“I was not nervous,” said Colón, a retired hospital administration officer worker who lives in Kissimmee. “I used my mask. I used hand sanitizer. I kept the distance.”
In Lake County, voters in Mount Dora also had cotton swabs to sign their names, plus pens to use once and take home with the name of the Supervisor Alan Hays on them.
Hays said he heard compliments from voters about the cleanliness and service at polling places but also some negative comments as well
“We’ve had some who complained because some of our workers chose not to wear masks,” said Hays, who did not require workers to wear face coverings. Hays said he was expecting turnout to be about 24%.
In Seminole County, Supervisor Chris Anderson said the county was expected to be above the 25% turnout from 2016.
Still, Precinct 26 in Altamonte Springs was too quiet for voter Debbie Paschal.
“There’s nobody here,” the 67-year-old, said shaking her head and wearing a blue “Trump” t-shirt.
“I always vote,” Paschal said. “This is important. We need to be out here now, so our president knows we’re behind him.”
Kimberly Grovenger snapped a selfie with her voter sticker as she left the precinct. The 28-year-old had come without rest from her overnight shift as a security worker.
Grovenger said she wasn’t drawn to any particular race during the primary but is eager to vote again in November to try to oust Trump.
“It’s been a long four years,” she said.