South Florida gets jump on voting

In a possible boon for Democrats, voters in South Florida are streaming to early-voting sites at a rate that is more than double the turnout for the last midterm election.

Turnout in Palm Beach County doubled from 5,315 to 10,696 for the first day, even with polling hours remaining the same and one fewer site being offered to voters.

With polls open two hours earlier in the morning and two additional sites, Broward County saw its turnout increase from 6,459 during the 2014 first day of early voting to 16,202.

Miami-Dade added four hours of voting and three sites. Early voting increased from 4,828 in 2014 to 15,109 on Monday.

It’s too early to draw conclusions, but the first-day numbers are good news for candidates Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson who want to rack up as many votes as possible in the state’s Democratic stronghold counties, said Joshua Scacco, a political scientist at the University of South Florida.

“South Florida is going to make up a large share of the final vote total for the Democratic candidate,” he said. “They have to build a firewall against the rest of the state in those counties.”

Early voting kicked off Monday in South Florida and will run until Nov. 4. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Democrats have been predicting a “blue wave” as they seek to combat President Donald Trump’s agenda. State Rep. Al Jacquet, D-Delray Beach, said he expects a record midterm turnout in his heavily African-American district with Gillum on the ticket. Gillum could

make history as Florida’s first black governor.

At the African-American Research Library in Fort Lauderdale, the number of early voters increased from 283 in 2014 to 485 Monday.

Political scientists, though, caution against reading too much into one day’s worth of results. It could simply reflect more voters are opting to vote early, rather than waiting until Election Day, said Kevin Wagner, a political scientist at Florida Atlantic University.

“It is hard to know how many of those voters represent first-time voters or people who wouldn’t have otherwise voted,” he said.

Broward and MiamiDade counties saw big jumps in their numbers, but voters had more time and additional places to cast their ballots than in 2014. A few eager voters camped overnight in Miami to be the first to cast their ballots when early voting started.

Brenda Snipes, supervisor of elections for Broward County, said she hasn’t

heard of any problems at the polls. She urged voters to study their ballots, which contain a lengthy list of constitutional amendments to consider.

“We are performing higher than in previous years,” Snipes said. “The voters seem to be engaged in the process. They know the sites are there, and they are taking advantage of it.”

A change allowed college campuses to be used for voting this year. That didn’t translate into a surge of younger voters at Florida Atlantic University. Only 97 people voted there Monday. Numbers were higher at Florida International University where 441 people voted.

Nearly 1.1 million Floridians have cast mail-in ballots so far, and those totals show that Republicans have a slight edge, Scacco said.

“Both sides can look at what is happening right now and be happy,” he said.