Florida ready for in-person voting

While other states have had issues, officials say they are prepared for Monday

With an emotional electorate ready to ratify or repudiate President Donald Trump, alarm or bravado over the increasing COVID-19 cases, and more suspicion than ever about election safety and security, early voting begins Monday in Florida.

No one knows exactly what to expect.

“There will be lines in Broward County [only] on the Sunday before Election Day. Outside of that, there won’t be any lines,” said Bro ward Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci, adding there might be some “oddball times” that produce an occasional backup.

Moments later, in the same online forum, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy S ar tory

Linkwas less sanguine.

“I’m not quite asconfidentasmy comrade,” Link said. “I can’tpromise youwewon’t have any lines.”

Though the South Florida elections officials say they’re prepared, early voting in some other states was marked by glitches, inadequate preparation and the combative nature of the 2000 election.

Other states have had problems. Texas had long lines across the state, with four-hour waits reported in Fort Worth, when early voting began on Tuesday. In Georgia, which broke its first-day turnout record when early voting began Oct. 12, it took some people six hours to vote. For others, it was eight hours as lines snaked aroundbuildings. Cablenewstalkers said some people had to wait 11 hours.

The lines reflect both heavy interest in the presidential contest between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, and also a tendency to rush to cast ballots on the first day— likened by some to the crowds that turn out for the opening of a popular store. Although the lines don’t necessarily indicate problems, there were reports in Georgia that the voter check-in systems were operating at a glacial pace.

It was even worse in some places. Virginia had long lines and videoshowedapro-Trumpprotest inFairfax that temporarily blocked the entrance to an early-voting site. Voters had to walk around the protesters until officials could openmore space inthe building so people could queue up inside.

The main reason Antonacci is confident Broward won’t see massive waits is the surge in popularity of mail voting. Somany people are voting by mail, he said, that there won’t be as much pressure on early-voting sites.

“The vote-by-mail enthusiasm has drained in-person voting,” Antonacci said during a Broward CollegeVillage Squareforumover Zoom.

Also, he said, the early-voting facilities are large and have lots of equipment to quickly produce ballots. (Because people can vote at any early-voting center in their homecounties, ballots are printed ondemandto reflectthe local races where they live.)

Link was somewhat optimistic about lines. “I don’t expect it to be anything like they’re seeing in Georgia. I certainly don’t expect an 11-hour line,” she said, agreeing with Antonacci that “vote by mail is helping a lot.”

There weren’t long waits in the March presidential primary or August state and local primaries in Palm Beach County, both of which sawbig increases in mail voting because of voter concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, Link said. But, she added, the total number of voters participating in the presidential election willbe far higher than either primary.

She said Palm Beach County’s 18 early voting sites are more than it’s ever had. Broward, whichhas a larger population, has 22. MiamiDade, with an even higher population has 33.

People can drop offmail ballots at early-voting centers, which creates the potential for a more clogged system. Antonacci said Broward’s locations all have separate entrances for people who are just doing a drop-off, so it’s not clogged for either group. Link said 17 of Palm Beach County’s early-voting locations will have vans on-site where people can turn in their mail ballots .( The 18 th Palm Beach County site is a branch office with a drop box already in place.)

There is lots of time to vote early between the first day onMonday and the last dayNov. 1, the Sunday before the election. Early voting will run for 14 days, from 7 a.m. to

7 p.m., in all three big South Florida counties.

Early voting at regional sites — people can go to any voting center in the county in which they live— is one of the reforms that resulted from the mess that surrounded the 2000 GeorgeW. Bush-AlGore election in Florida.

Its use has soared since the early days, as time-starved voters wanted a more convenientway to vote without having to make sure they could get to a neighborhood polling place on ElectionDay.

In the 2004 presidential election, 1.4 million people cast early votes in Florida — slightly less than two out of every 10 Florida voters. By the 2016 presidential contest, 3.9 million people used an early-voting site, which worked out to more than four out of 10 voters.

There’s evidence supporting Antonacci’s view that there won’t be as much early voting demand in 2020.

The average of public opinion polls released this month by Florida Atlantic University, Quinnipi ac University, Siena College shows

28% of Florida voters plan to use early-voting this year — a sharp decline fromthe 40.4% in 2016.

Aswith seemingly everything in America today, there’s a partisan difference. Democratshave shifted away from early voting and Election Day voting to voting by mail. And Republicans have shifted away from mail voting and early voting to casting ballots on ElectionDay.

The bottom line, Link said, is election officials “have to assume we’re still going to have a huge turnout for early voting and on ElectionDay.”

Polling also shows that Democrats are much more concerned than Republicans about the coronavirus, helping drive the shift toward mail voting. After months of Trump criticizing mail voting, Republicans — at least what they told pollsters — said they’re shifting toward in-person voting on ElectionDay.

Biden’s campaign is planning a push to encourage Democrats to vote early. As early voting begins Monday, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, the vice presidential nominee, will be in Orlando and Jacksonville. Her spouse, Doug Emhoff, will be in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.