‘Invest in it’: Few voted in Miami-Dade’s local elections. Experts say more can be done
In Homestead’s Precinct 894, at the eastern edge of the South Dade city, just three of 119 voters in an overwhelmingly young, Hispanic community participated in Tuesday’s election to choose the city’s mayor.
In Precinct 959, on the northern edge of town, 14 people, or 0.8% of the 1,692 registered voters there, cast ballots.
By the time the election was done and Mayor Steve Losner won a second term by a razor-thin margin, fewer than 1 in 10 voters had participated citywide.
The low turnout in Homestead’s election — which also decided to reelect incumbent Councilwoman Jenifer Bailey and amend six different parts of the city charter — wasn’t unique to the burgeoning city. With a half-dozen communities holding elections, only Hialeah and Miami Beach reached 20% turnout this year. Miami didn’t even reach 15%.
Countywide, the turnout average was just under 17% — 58 percentage points lower than just one year earlier, when about 75% of Miami-Dade voters cast ballots for president. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, a dozen or fewer votes separate candidates in the Democratic primary to replace U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, which could go to a recount Friday. Just over 49,000 voters cast ballots in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which has more than 800,000 residents.
“It’s an off year. It’s just what happens in off-year elections,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said after voting for himself Sunday at City Hall, echoing a common refrain about South Florida’s local elections.
Local leaders attribute the scant participation in odd-year elections to lack of attention to races and unfamiliar deadlines to request mail ballots or register to vote. But experts say there is still work to be done regarding voter registration and outreach efforts, and that low participation is bad for democracy.
In some places, leaders have moved elections to coincide with even-numbered election years — when either the governor or president is on the ballot — in an effort to boost turnout. A report published by a body created by the Florida Legislature in 2020 recommended that the Legislature standardize municipal election dates, though it did not provide a specific recommendation.
In other states, like Oregon, Washington and Colorado, the state mails a ballot to every registered voter in an effort to put ballots in voters’ hands and limit overwhelming influxes of mail ballot requests.
Mailing ballots to every voter, however, is an issue Florida’s conservative state government is “not looking to open up,” said Sean Foreman, a Barry University political science professor. Earlier this year, lawmakers made it slightly harder to request a vote-by-mail ballot and they shortened the time frame for standing mail-ballot requests from four years to two years. They also outlawed the collection of mail ballots, which was already illegal in Miami-Dade County.
“I think it’s a nonstarter in Florida right now, but it does gets us to the philosophy of the right to vote,” said Foreman, who instead would like to see universal voter registration, which he says would make people feel more encouraged to show up. “If you’re eligible, you have the right to vote and the right to not vote. But decisions are made by the people who show up.“
Amber McReynolds, a former Denver election supervisor and current executive director of Vote At Home, said turnout spiked to 40% in Denver once ballots were automatically put in voters’ hands. But even if all-mail elections are not in the cards for Florida and election dates aren’t moved, she said there are still more actions local leaders can take to educate the electorate about voting in local races.
They can set new election dates, challenge state laws that restrict mail voting access and advocate for rules like day-of voter registration, she said.
“Local leaders need to lead and, frankly, treat election administration as what it should be, which is critical public infrastructure,” she said. “Just like roads and bridges need to be taken care of, so do elections and our civic systems. Stop acting like it’s this thing that someone else is responsible for, and invest in it.”
She said in places like Homestead, where more than 90% of people did not vote, the implication is that “the vast majority” of voters are “shirking a significant decision.”
Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Christina White acknowledged that historically, off-year election turnout hovers between 10% and 25%. But she said the responsibility is shared between the county and the cities, and that her office’s outreach for presidential or gubernatorial elections is identical to off-year elections.
They post on social media, send out sample ballots and list a variety of resources in three languages on their website.
Though Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday that he wants to change the state’s laws on ballot drop boxes, White said that she still feels confident that as of now, voting remains as accessible as ever.
While local governments can decide to ask voters if they want to change their election dates, she said, Florida’s three-tiered voting — mail, early voting and Election Day voting — is easier than it is in other places.
“My personal opinion is that we have come such a long way in the state of Florida,” she said. “Voting is very convenient, and we have the maximum amount of days under the law for early voting. ... In Florida, as you know, it’s as simple as requesting a ballot. I think the laws in the state of Florida as they are today are great.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 12:20 PM.