Early voting starts in Broward, Palm Beach

March elections for state lawmakers, local officials

Early voting began Saturday for March 8 elections in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The first day, as expected, was very, very quiet.

“Not a lot [of early voters], but we have been getting a lot of mail ballots in,” Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said. “It seems like people are really adapting to voteby-mail.”

In Palm Beach County, “it’s not a ton” said Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link. There were two voters waiting to cast their ballots when one of the early voting centers opened its doors at 10 a.m.

At the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, people were coming and going Saturday afternoon, but none said they were there to vote.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, seven hours after Broward’s four early voting centers opened, 57 people had voted early. So far, 29,836 voteby-mail ballots have been cast. As of Saturday afternoon, that was a turnout of 7.4%.

In Palm Beach County, 120 people had voted by mail at 5 p.m., and 28,069 had voted by mail. That’s a total turnout, so far, of 7.9%.

More than half of Palm Beach County’s ballots were cast at the Ezell Hester Community Center early voting site in Boynton Beach, a city where there’s a hot contest for mayor.

The reason for in-person early voting is the special legislative elections in state Senate District 33 in Broward and State House District 88 in Palm Beach County. Voters are choosing replacements for state lawmakers who resigned for what turned out to be unsuccessful candidacies for Congress.

Their replacements will be chosen on March 8.

State law requires early voting for state legislative elections, and state government ultimately picks up the cost of staffing the early voting centers. Because some cities, towns and villages also have elections on March 8, early voting is available for voters in those communities.

But since early voting is designed for the legislative districts, which only make up part of the territory in each county, the early voting centers aren’t as numerous as normal. And they’re located to be convenient for people in those legislative districts, so they aren’t necessarily convenient for voters in municipal contests.

For example, a voter from Pembroke Pines in southwest Broward who wants to use an in-person early voting center in advance of the city election would have to go to one of the four early voting sites in

locations designed for the 33rd Senate district, most of which are about a halfhour drive.

Need to know

Dates and times: Early voting runs for nine days, from through March 6, the Sunday before Election Day.

The hours in both counties are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. A voter who is in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

Locations: A voter may go to any regional site in the county in which they live for early in-person voting. On Election Day, March 8, people must vote in their neighborhood polling locations.

There are four sites in Broward County — in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Pompano Beach and Tamarac — and four in Palm Beach County — Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach.

On the ballot: In Broward, voting is open to registered voters in the 33rd state Senate district and in Hillsboro Beach, Lighthouse Point, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea,

and Pembroke Pines Districts

1 and 4.

In Palm Beach County, voting is open to registered voters in the 88th state House district and in Boynton Beach, Greenacres, Haverhill, Highland Beach, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Lake Clarke Shores, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Loxahatchee Groves, North Palm Beach, Pahokee, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach, South Palm Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach.

Mail ballots: All early voting sites in both counties allow people to drop off their mail ballots during early voting hours. County supervisors of elections offices also offer secure drop boxes (hours vary.)

Information: People can check to see if they’re registered to vote, if they live in one of the communities or legislative districts with an election, the status of mail ballots, and locations of early voting sites online and by phone.

Broward County: www.browardvotes.gov,

954-357-8683.

Palm Beach County: www.votepalmbeach.gov,

561-656-6200.