Could Florida have voting fiasco, too?
Whitley: Election may have glitches, but won’t repeat Iowa’s meltdown.
We are pleased to report that with 93% of precincts reporting, Buddy Dyer is leading the Iowa caucuses.
That could change when the sled dog team hired by the Iowa Democratic Party arrives with results from Sioux City.
I’ll try (and fail) to make that the last crack about Iowa’s meltdown. Elections are serious business, and they are the topic of this week’s Ask Orlando question.
A reader wanted to know why he couldn’t vote for Dyer or anyone else in the most recent Orlando mayoral race.
“I was looking forward to voting but could not because I am in ‘Unincorporated Orange County,’ ” he wrote. “What exactly is that, and why am I shut out of certain elections? My address is in Orlando, but I cannot vote for the Orlando mayor?”
I actually received this inquiry in November, shortly after Dyer won his 27th consecutive term to run our city. I knew the answer wouldn’t fill an entire column, however, so I’ve been waiting for more to play with.
Thank you, Hawkeye State. I figure that fiasco has people asking questions around here. After all, Florida reportedly had a hiccup or two in previous elections.
Before we address Iowa concerns, just what is the deal with voting in “Orlando” vs. “Unincorporated Orange County?”
“That’s one of the more popular questions I get,” said Bill Cowles, Orange County’s Supervisor of Elections.
You have to live in the city limits to vote in city elections. The problem is people often go by their utility bills or the address listed by the U.S. Postal Service.
Those may say “Orlando,” but that doesn’t mean you actually
live in Orlando. The city’s boundaries snake throughout the county, and new property is routinely annexed.
Before you head to the poll in the next city election, go to gis.orlando.gov/OrlandoInformationLocator/ and type in your address to see if you’re eligible to vote.
Now, on to the more immediate questions. The Florida Presidential Preference Primary is March 17. Could we turn into another Iowa?
No.
That doesn’t mean Florida is guaranteed to be glitch-free. That won’t happen until Broward County is annexed again by Spain. But we can’t replicate Iowa because the voting systems are totally different.
Our Presidential Preference Primaries are run by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections. Iowa’s Presidential Preference Primaries are run by the Marx Brothers Preservation Society.
In reality, Iowa’s Republican and Democratic parties run their respective caucuses. It’s a format preferred by only a handful of states and the Kremlin.
Instead of simply going into booths and filling out ballots, dozens of citizens and hundreds of TV crews gather in school gyms, grain silos and 7-Elevens to discuss candidates. Then they break into smaller groups signifying their choices.
Under Iowa Democratic Party rules, if a candidate doesn’t get 15% of attendees, those delegates are automatically awarded to Joe Biden, who then thanks the good people of Idaho for coming out to vote for him on such a cold night.
Then volunteer poll workers realize the fancy-schmancy reporting app doesn’t work on the pay phone at the caucus site and call in the sled dogs.
Florida does not use apps or sled dogs or smoke signals in its election process.
“It starts with how much training our poll workers get here,” Cowles said, “versus how much training their poll workers get.”
His office has 50 full-time employees. There will be about 3,500 volunteers on Election Day, all of whom have had at least three hours of training.
So to answer the question inquiring minds want to know, it’s highly unlikely Florida will suffer an Iowa pratfall next month. Cowles said a couple more questions always pop up in any election.
“I’m registered. Why can’t I vote?”
That comes from people who’ve registered as “No Party Affiliation.” Florida is a closed primary state.
If you want to vote in a partisan primary, you must be registered with that particular party affiliation.
The registration deadline for the March primary is Feb. 18. If you’re not officially a Democrat or Republican, you’ll have to wait until the Nov. 3 general election to vote for president.
Mail-in ballots went out last week for next month’s primary election. That always leads to phone calls to Cowles’ office.
“Hey, don’t you morons know (Candidate X) has dropped out?”
Candidate X is one who has dropped out of the race. A bunch of them will appear this year because they were still running when ballots had to be printed.
So you can still vote for Corey Booker, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris or (please, God) Marianne Williamson on March 17.
Of course, if the Iowa Democratic Party somehow takes over the election, you could probably still vote for Millard Fillmore.
If the sled dogs can get the results to elections office, he might even be declared the winner.
“Ask Orlando” is a weekly feature intended to solve local mysteries and enlighten readers. If you have a question about anything Orlando, send an email to dwhitley@ orlandosentinel.com.