Thousands of voters in Miami-Dade County have switched their political party affiliation ahead of Florida's presidential preference primary election on March 19.
According to the Miami-Dade Elections Department, since Jan. 1, 2,328 NPAs or non-party affiliated voters and 1,620 Democrats switched to the Republican party. Florida law allows that as long as voters make the change 29 days before the election.
"To me, it shows that Miami-Dade County is continuing the trend toward the Republican Party," said political analyst Alex Penelas. "You also see a lot more enthusiasm on the part of Republican voters than you do from Democrat voters. For all these reasons, I would not be surprised if Miami-Dade County went red, went Republican in November's elections."
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In Broward County, almost 100 Republicans have recently switched to the Democrat party. Some 850 Democrats flipped to the GOP.
Florida is a closed primary state, so only registered Republicans can cast a vote in this election since Democrats have already chosen President Joe Biden as their nominee.
"The only exception to that are the voters who live in South Miami and Surfside. They have local races and referendums on the ballot so everyone comes out and votes," said Christina White, the Supervisor of Elections in Miami-Dade.
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Now more voters will have a say in the race between Donald Trump, the front-runner, and Nikki Haley, the one opponent left.
Elections officials are also warning of a confusing ballot in this election, as voters will see the names of the five candidates that dropped out still on the ballot. Those candidates did not fill out the paperwork to have their names removed.
On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade Elections Department performed a test of 5% of its tabulating machines. With an election this size, they will use over 1,700 voting machines. Each one is tested before being deployed.
"I like to call it a confidence test because it proves to us, the voters, the political parties, and the candidates that the ballot was coded as it should’ve been, and the voting units are capturing those votes accurately," White said.
If you plan to vote by mail, the law now requires voters to renew their vote-by-mail ballot request before each election. The deadline for this election is March 7.
