Miami, Hialeah and Miami Beach have runoff elections today. Here’s what to know

The fate of six seats on the elected bodies of three cities in Miami-Dade County will be decided Tuesday in runoff votes.

Residents of Miami, Miami Beach and Hialeah will go to the polls to cast ballots in runoff races where no candidate received a majority of votes in the Nov. 5 primary.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the three cities. Voters need to bring a current, valid ID to their assigned precincts.

Go to Florida’s division of elections website to check your voter registration status and find your polling place.

Residents having trouble voting can contact Miami-Dade County’s Supervisor of Elections at 305-499-8683.

On the county elections website, you can see sample ballots for all three cities — Miami, Miami Beach and Hialeah.

The deadline to request vote-by-mail ballots was Nov. 9. Registered voters must return those ballots to the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, 2700 NW 87th Ave. in Miami, no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.

In the city of Miami, former state senator Alex Díaz de la Portilla will look to secure his return to public life if he can stave off auto parts retailer Miguel Angel Gabela. Díaz de la Portilla, who has lost three previous races at higher levels of government, won about 38 percent of the primary vote, holding a roughly 1,100-vote lead over Gabela, who captured about 20 percent.

There are three runoffs in Miami Beach, including one in which candidate Steven Meiner made the cut by receiving a mere two votes more than the third-place primary finisher, Michael Barrineau. Meiner will face former Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who finished first in the primary with 38% of the votes.

First-time candidate Raquel Pacheco faces an uphill battle against incumbent Commissioner and Vice Mayor Ricky Arriola, who finished 21 points ahead of Pacheco on Nov. 5.

And former state representative David Richardson will take on restaurant owner Adrian Gonzalez after Richardson fell just 109 votes short of winning outright, receiving 48.9% of the primary vote.

Hialeah also has two runoffs Tuesday with big implications for the city’s balance of power, with one candidate in each race backed by Mayor Carlos Hernández.

Mayor-backed Luis González, who was a council member from 2005 to 2017, is up against Jesus Tundidor, the former vice chair of the city’s planning and zoning board. Tundidor got 32 percent of primary votes while González got 28 percent.

And Jackie Garcia-Roves, who is also supported by Hernández, faces community activist Milagros “Milly” Herrera. Garcia-Roves collected 42 percent of votes on Nov. 5; Herrera had 23 percent in a four-person field.

Miami, Miami Beach and Hialeah held early voting for the runoffs this past weekend, though the results won’t be released until the polls close Tuesday night.

Turnout numbers for early voting suggest fewer ballots could be cast in the runoff elections than in the primaries, although residents had a shorter window this time around.

Miami Beach had over 2,200 early voters this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to the county elections department, as opposed to more than 2,600 in the primary.

In Miami, fewer than 400 voters cast early ballots this past weekend versus more than 900 in the primary. And 850 early voters turned out in Hialeah for the runoffs after more than 1,100 did so earlier this month.

Miami Herald staff writers Joey Flechas and Martin Vassolo and reporter Christina Morales contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 12:00 AM.