South Florida: Daily Increases In Early Voting

October 25, 2008

CBS4

Elections officials in South Florida has said early voting turnout appeared to be slowing down, but in Miami-Dade county, figures released by the Department of Elections said turnout has increased every day for the first 4 days of early voting, with just over 60 thousand voting through Thursday.

County figures show 12 thousand people votes Monday, the first day of early voting. The totals increased each day this week, with almost 18 thousand voting Thursday. The Thursday turnout outpaced the rest of the week despite bad weather and long lines which often forced would-be voters to wait outside.

The same trend was seen in Broward County, which had numbers available only through Wednesday. Nearly 37 thousand people had voted the first 3 days of the early voting period, with increases each day.

Frustrating to voters and election officials alike are the long delays at the early polling places, caused in part by intense voter interest and by the new paper ballot system, which for early voting requires a paper ballot to be custom printed for each voter once they are qualified.

Miami-Dade County added more voting machines to allow people to move through more quickly after getting their ballot, and both counties are providing wait time estimates at their 311 information lines.

CBS4.com is also providing wait time estimates from each county online.

Election officials are urging voters to help speed things up by reviewing a sample ballot before going to the polls. CBS4.com allows voters to use our Online Voters Guide to enter their address, answer a question or two, and create a custom sample ballot for their community which voters can take to the polling place.

Source: CBS 4