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Report from Florida on Saturday, the last day of early voting
Long lines in some counties kept polling places open well into the night on Friday and Saturday. Some of my friends in Gainesville reported hour long waits but in some polls in South Florida the waits were 4 to 7 hours long:
The Miami Herald reports:
At the North Miami Public Library, where the line wrapped around the entire property and some voters waited up to six hours, Smith Joseph, running for city mayor, had giant speakers on the back of a black pick-up truck blasting upbeat kompa music. Some people danced.
Frederick Hyppolite, 46, who arrived with his wife and four children at 7 a.m., didn’t make it inside the library until 2 p.m. He had tried to vote Friday, he said, but was turned away because of a misprint on his driver’s license. He spent Friday evening at the Department of Motor Vehicles fixing the mistake.
“This is obviously something that I care about,” he said. “The president needs our support.”
But not everyone who made it to a line Saturday stayed.
At the West Dade Regional Library, 59-year-old Rolando Gutierrez, who was next-to-last in line at around 2 p.m., told the woman behind him, 45-year-old Maria Corro, that he was thinking of leaving to avoid the three- or four-hour wait.
Frederick Hyppolite, 46, who arrived with his wife and four children at 7 a.m., didn’t make it inside the library until 2 p.m. He had tried to vote Friday, he said, but was turned away because of a misprint on his driver’s license. He spent Friday evening at the Department of Motor Vehicles fixing the mistake.
“This is obviously something that I care about,” he said. “The president needs our support.”
But not everyone who made it to a line Saturday stayed.
At the West Dade Regional Library, 59-year-old Rolando Gutierrez, who was next-to-last in line at around 2 p.m., told the woman behind him, 45-year-old Maria Corro, that he was thinking of leaving to avoid the three- or four-hour wait.
Last night the Democratic Party filed a lawsuit to compel the state to open for early voting on Sunday:
The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court, argues that an emergency judge's order is necessary to "extend voting opportunities" before Tuesday, including allowing voters to cast absentee ballots in person at supervisor of elections' offices -- something already allowed under state law. Voters can turn in their ballots through 7 p.m. Tuesday.
In Miami-Dade, voters can request an absentee ballot in person, and turn it in, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, and between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday at the elections headquarters at 2700 NW 87th Ave., Doral.
It's unclear exactly what more a court could do at this point. The lawsuit does not ask the court to order all early-voting sites to re-open.
An attorney for the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections' office, one of the parties sued in the case, filed a motion responding to the lawsuit saying the case is moot to the county because it already allows for in-person absentee voting.
In Miami-Dade, voters can request an absentee ballot in person, and turn it in, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, and between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday at the elections headquarters at 2700 NW 87th Ave., Doral.
It's unclear exactly what more a court could do at this point. The lawsuit does not ask the court to order all early-voting sites to re-open.
An attorney for the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections' office, one of the parties sued in the case, filed a motion responding to the lawsuit saying the case is moot to the county because it already allows for in-person absentee voting.
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/11/florida-democratic-party-sues-in-miami-federal-court-to-extend-early-voting-hours.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/03/3080829_p3/final-day-of-early-voting-mostly.html#storylink=cpy
Note the objection to the lawsuit does not apply in my county in North Florida where you had to get an absentee ballot by October 31st. Every county has different rules as I learned working on GOTV with college students in Gainesville last week. Many of the were waiting to vote until their registration cards came not understanding that they just needed to produce id to match their online registration. Apparently many students who registered in the drives in October had not received their cards as of Thursday. I also heard from students who had ordered absentee ballots and had not seen them arrive. If you are from Miami it is a 6 hour drive home from North Florida to vote. Lots of problems in the way of working people and student voters.
