No major glitches during early voting
Early voting began in Broward County at 10 a.m. Saturday and continued into its sixth day in Palm Beach County with no major voting glitches reported.
The early voting is in anticipation of the primary voting day on Aug. 28 during which the major parties will pick their candidates for the general election on Nov. 6. Also, Boca Raton is holding its municipal elections.
As of Saturday morning, 57,262 had voted by mail in Broward County; 37,808 in Palm Beach County. In the first five days of voting in Palm Beach, 12,335 had voted.
Early voting took place at the site of two concerts happening Saturday. A free Busta Rhymes show was gearing
up as the last early voters checked in at a Deerfield Beach site and cars were pouring into the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach for an Evanescence gig as the last few early voters did their thing there.
Deerfield officials said they had done a walk-through with Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes’ on Thursday to make sure that the back-toschool event, the Big Buck Music Fest, and the early voting could be accommodated at Oveta McKeithen Recreational Complex.
“This [music fest] is important to us, but not as important as early voting,” said Rebecca Medina Stewart, Deerfield’s spokeswoman.
Snipes stopped in at the site early Saturday and was satisfied with the setup for voter parking that she saw,
Medina Stewart said. But late Saturday afternoon, security guards were directing all cars coming into Southwest Second Street toward the early voting site away from parking near the complex, where the voting was set up without asking where they were going.
Medina Stewart said she discovered that the housing authority complex, Stanley Terrace, had hired security to keep festivalgoers from parking in the residential complex.
“I told them to please let people know where they can park for early voting,” she said.
Daniel Jaime, 48, of Deerfield Beach, was one of those directed to park a block away. But he could not be deterred from the polls, he said.
“This is my first time voting,” said Jaime, who works as a stock clerk.