No lines. No wait. No fuss.
South Florida voters awoke early Saturday to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, mainly for the sheer convenience.
“I am not able to get off from work,” said Antoinette Lakowitz, a health insurance employee from North Miami, who drove south to the Lemon City Branch Library in Miami to cast her ballot. “I wanted to make sure I was able to vote.”
Martha McCoy, a home healthcare worker from El Portal, shared those sentiments. “I have tons of stuff to do,” she said. “I always come here because they have less lines.”
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Lakowitz and McCoy are among nearly six million Floridians who have voted early, in person or by mail — drawn to the polls by the tightening presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. That tally so far accounts for just less than half of all registered voters in Florida, the biggest of the battleground states nationwide.
In Miami-Dade, voters have headed to the polls in record numbers: Through Friday, 648,000 voters already cast ballots — a sign that the total turnout for this presidential election will likely surpass that in 2012. That year, more than 879,000 voters cast ballots in both early and Election Day voting.
And while the razor thin margin of how many Democrats and Republicans have voted so far shifts from day to day, the tally favored the Democrats in Saturday morning reports.
Both sides have declared that they have the decisive edge heading into the final weekend before Election Day.
Early voting started on Oct. 24 and ends on Sunday — a day when black churches traditionally urge their congregants to vote.
In Miami-Dade County, 30 polling sites are open for early voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In Broward County, 21 polling places are open during the same time.
Miami-Dade’s elections supervisor reported no waiting on Saturday, while Broward’s reported less than 30 minutes.
Jay Weaver: 305-376-3446, @jayhweaver
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