Registration deadline looms for critical vote

In South Florida, voters will make decisions in August — not November — that are far more consequential than many people realize.

The deadline to register to vote in those contests is Monday.

“It’s not only the president or members of Congress in Washington, D.C., who make important decisions that affect our lives,” Andrea Mercado, executive director of the political group New Florida Majority, said during a video news conference on Friday. “These August elections … impact our day-to-day lives, our schools, our economy, who represents us in Tallahassee.”

Ruben Lebron, political director of the group Alianza For Progress, said local elections “can sometimes have the biggest impact on our day-to-day lives on things like whether the schools open or close, how our tax dollars are spent, criminal justice reform in this era of police brutality and all the protests that are happening.”

On Aug. 18, South Florida voters will:

Shape the criminal justice system, something that’s critically important with heightened attention on police conduct and systemic racism. Candidates for sheriff, state attorney, public defender and judge are on the ballot.

Decide who sets policy for schools in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, jobs that are especially critical when officials are wrestling over when to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. School board seats in all three counties are open.

Determine who will be in charge of elections — whether voting will be easier or more difficult. Broward and Palm Beach county voters will decide on supervisors of elections.

Many of the contests are officially nonpartisan, with candidates elected without party labels. In other cases there isn’t a November election challenger, so important positions will be decided in August. That’s the case for School Board members and judges.

And in others, the party primaries in August effectively determine who wins the November election because there’s only nominal opposition in the general election or the district is overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican. That’s the case for several important Broward County offices: sheriff, state attorney, public defender and supervisor of elections.

Florida has closed primaries, which means only voters registered as Democrats or Republicans can take part in those contests, which pick nominees for Congress, state Legislature and County Commission.

All voters, including those with independent/ no party affiliation registration, can vote in nonpartisan contests for School Board and judicial seats. Everyone can also vote in a “universal primary ” if there is no opposition candidate running in November.

Ground rules

People who want to participate in the Aug. 18 Democratic and Republican primaries, along with nonpartisan elections, need to be registered to vote. The deadline is Monday.

Florida offers online voter registration and party changes. People who register to vote by mail need to have their applications postmarked on or before July 20.

To register, someone must be at least 18 years old by primary day and a U.S. citizen. Felons who haven’t had their voting rights restored and people judged mentally incompetent aren’t eligible. A person who turns 18 by Aug. 18 can register now and vote in the primary and nonpartisan elections and anyone who’s 18 by Nov. 3 can register now for the general election.

With the deadline so close, people should be vigilant with their applications. An error such as transposing two numbers would flag the address as inaccurate — meaning the application is not valid because it isn’t “complete and accurate.”

The county elections office sends a letter to the person registering, but close to the deadline, it won’t reach a person on time to correct the problem.

You may register to vote, or change party affiliation, online at registertovoteflorida.gov, as long as you complete the process by 11:59 p.m. Monday. To check your voter status: re g i st ra t i o n .e l e c t i o n s .myflorida.com/Check VoterStatus