Live election updates: Here’s what’s happening in Florida with 6 days to go
We’re keeping track of the latest news regarding the campaigns, early voting and other political news in South Florida and around the state. Check back for updates throughout the day.
Second Souls to the Polls event coming to Miami
4 p.m.: The Equal Ground Education Fund, a Black-led, non-partisan, non-profit group plans a second weekend Souls to the Polls event in Miami-Dade Sunday. The goal is to mobilize Black voters to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day.
This weekend’s Souls to the Polls effort will feature a caravan to the polling locations from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.
The caravan starting point is Calder Casino, 21001 NW 27th Ave. Miami.
The caravan ends at North Dade Regional Library, 2455 NW 183rd St., Miami Gardens.
Local faith leader Stephanie Russell, comedian Marvin Dixon, community leaders, gospel singers, elected officials and political candidates are expected to participate, organizers say.
Man accessed voter registrations of Gov. DeSantis, Michael Jordan, LeBron James
3:30 p.m.: A Naples man used a computer to alter Gov. Ron DeSantis’ voting registration and attempted to get into the voting registrations of U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, retired basketball icon Michael Jordan and current basketball icon LeBron James, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.
The FDLE arrested 20-year-old Anthony Guevara on Tuesday night on one count of unauthorized access of a computer and one count of altering a voter registration without consent. Guevara is being held in Collier County jail on $5,000 bond.
Read the story here.
Rockers aim to get the vote out
1:35 p.m.: Some musicians and activists are working this week to help get people to vote with just six days to Election Day.
People for the American Way board member, civil rights and voting rights activist Dolores Huerta joins Pearl Jam musicians Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready and activist/organizer Luis Miranda to kick off a statewide phone bank in Florida with New Florida Majority.
The event is part of People for the American Way’s Latinos Vote! Program and the “One Vote at a Time” Dolores Huerta virtual bus tour.
Watch it at 6 p.m. Wednesday via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/758641188051605?active_tab=about.
Also rocking the vote: Three members of the classic rock group Foreigner. The band’s Kelly Hansen, Jeff Pilson and Bruce Watson recorded a 30-second, non-partisan get-the-vote-out video set to the chorus from the 1977 hit “Feels Like the First Time” from ballot boxes across Los Angeles.
Is it too late to mail in your mail-in ballot? Here’s what to do as Election Day nears
12:25 p.m.: It is now less than a week to Election Day, and you still haven’t mailed back your requested vote-by-mail ballot.
Do you really expect it to arrive in time for the 7 p.m. Nov. 3 deadline? If you’re one of these people, please consider another plan now to get your vote counted. Here’s how to vote now.
New tension at Florida polls as supporters get aggressive and officials call in police
Noon: A Trump supporter sat in a lawn chair and used a blow horn to shout to voters waiting in line last week outside the early voting site at the Southwest Regional Library in Pembroke Pines. A Democratic poll watcher violated the rule of silence at a Lake County polling site, and aggressively confronted a voter and a member of the elections staff. And in Orange County, a voter parked his truck outside an early voting site and blared what voters complained was “pro-Trump” music.
Those were just some of the dozens of reports of disruption and claims of intimidation that have emerged this polarized election year in Florida as voters stream into early voting sites.
Read the report here.
Military absentee ballots may be critical to 2020 election
8:40 a.m.: The number of service members voting by absentee ballot is surging in 2020, and could become a critical factor in Florida, where one out of every five military absentee ballots were cast in the 2016 presidential election, according to data analyzed by McClatchy.
Military voting advocacy groups are worried, however, that the combined pressures of the pandemic and strain on the U.S. postal system will delay those votes. They are raising awareness that in many key battleground states, later deadlines for military absentee ballots means those votes must still be included, even if they arrive after Election Day.
Read the story here.
As Florida eclipses 2016 early vote totals, Democratic turnout lags in Miami-Dade
8:30 a.m.: With one week to go before Nov. 3, Florida has already surpassed its pre-Election Day voting totals from 2016.
But while statewide turnout has been impressive, turnout in Miami-Dade County — and among Democrats in particular — has been lagging somewhat. Entering Tuesday, about 46% of all registered voters in Florida had cast ballots, including 42% of Democrats, 37% of Republicans and 20% of independents, according to the U.S. Elections Project.
In Miami-Dade, where mail ballots went out on the last possible day, the turnout was less than 46% of registered voters Tuesday, state data shows. That includes 52% of Republicans, 47% of Democrats and 37% of independents.
Read the report here.
Ivanka Trump rebukes socialism at Miami rally
8:30 a.m.: Donald Trump’s children and surrogates are making a final swing through Florida, where latest polling shows a quintessentially Floridian razor-thin margin between Trump and his challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, used her father’s rhetoric to rebuke socialism and tout a strong economy on Tuesday at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater in downtown Miami.
Read the story here.
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Live election updates: Here’s what’s happening in Florida with 6 days to go."
