Getting the jump on Super Tuesday: Floridians begin voting in-person Monday
The presidential primary in Florida will kick up in intensity Monday as Republicans and Democrats in some of Florida’s largest metropolitan areas, including Miami-Dade County, begin voting in person for their favored candidate.
Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties are among the jurisdictions choosing to open early voting centers Monday, the earliest date the state allows on-location voting ahead of its March 17 primary.
Broward and Palm Beach counties open their early voting centers on March 7. The last day of early voting across the state is March 15.
Florida’s primary election is closed, meaning only Republicans and Democrats can vote for president.
In Miami-Dade, nearly two dozen early voting sites will open at 7 a.m. and close at 3 p.m., a schedule that will hold through Friday. On weekends, those same early voting centers run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Early voting locations and wait times in Miami-Dade County can be found at the Supervisor of Elections website.
“We are pleased to once again provide maximum convenience to the voters of Miami-Dade County,” Suzy Trutie, a spokeswoman for Elections Supervisor Christina White, wrote in an email. “Voters can go to any of the 23 locations throughout Miami-Dade County to cast their vote or drop off their vote-by-mail ballot.”
Trutie said preparations for the presidential primary have gone smoothly. “Poll workers have been trained, equipment prepared and tested, and all early voting sites have been set up.”
The start of early voting comes one day before voters in 14 states will participate in primary elections on Super Tuesday, the biggest single date on the presidential primary calendar for Democratic candidates. Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren remain in the race for the Democratic nomination.
President Donald Trump is on the ballot for Republicans in Florida but has only nominal opposition.
Voters in Florida have been voting by mail for weeks. Local election offices sent out the first of more than 2 million mail ballots in late January. So far, about 800,000 mail ballots have been cast statewide. Republicans have cast about 500,000 ballots, and Democrats have cast about 300,000.
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
