Miami-Dade

South Floridians Casting Their Votes During Primary Election in Pandemic

Polls will be open across Miami-Dade and Broward counties from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for registered voters to cast their ballots

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What to Know

  • Polls will be open across Miami-Dade and Broward counties from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for registered voters to cast their ballots
  • Voters are casting their ballots for a new mayor in Miami-Dade County with a crowded field of candidates squaring off in Tuesday's election to try and fill the position.
  • In Broward, current Sheriff Gregory Tony is running to hold on to the spot against a crowded field - including Scott Israel, the man who Tony replaced

South Floridians who haven’t already taken part in early voting or sent back their mail-in ballots will head to the polls Tuesday for a primary election held in the coronavirus pandemic.

Polls will be open across Miami-Dade and Broward counties from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for registered voters to cast their ballots. You can click on the following links for voting sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Voters are still able to turn in their mail-in ballots Tuesday until 7 p.m. at each county's Supervisor of Elections office.

“It’s very safe, so there’s not any chance that there will be any risk for the COVID," said Giacomo Franchi, who was one of the voters who dropped their ballot off at Miami-Dade's site.

Officials say they have never seen mail-in ballots in this much of a demand for a primary election.

“We’ve seen almost 250,000 vote by mail ballots returned to our office. We’ve mailed out more than 460,000 - those are record numbers," said Robert Rodriguez from the Miami-Dade Elections Department. "Those are numbers that are close to presidential election numbers like we’ll see in November."

Across both counties, candidates are running for some of the most high profile positions - both in South Florida and across the state.

Voters are casting their ballots for a new mayor in Miami-Dade County with a crowded field of candidates squaring off in Tuesday's election to try and fill the position.

The candidates are seeking to replace Carlos Gimenez, who is term limited this year after being first elected to the position in 2011. One candidate must earn a majority - 50% plus one vote - to win the seat. If not, the top two vote getters go to a runoff in November.

Three county commissioners - Daniella Levine Cavo, Esteban Bovo and Xavier Suarez - are running as well as former county mayor Alex Penelas. The other two candidates running are educator Ludmilla Domond and political newcomer Monique Barley.

A new state attorney could be decided in Miami-Dade Count as former prosecutor Melba Pearson looks to unseat someone who was her boss for 16 years - Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez-Rundle.

Election Day in Miami-Dade is already setting a record for turnout.

In Broward County, current Sheriff Gregory Tony is running to hold on to the spot he was appointed to in January 2019 against a crowded field - including Scott Israel, the man who Tony replaced after two mass shootings in the county that included 17 people being killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018.

A third candidate, Al Pollock, retired as BSO commander in 2017 after nearly 40 years with the agency. He picked up an endorsement from the union for the deputy sheriffs, the same union that gave no confidence votes to both Israel and Tony during their time as sheriff.

Other candidates running for the position include Santiago Vazquez, Andrew Maurice Smalling and Willie Jones.

Florida has no statewide races on the 2020 ballot and voters are voting by mail in larger numbers, likely because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

As of Monday, more than 2.1 million people had cast mail-in ballots with more still coming in. That compares to fewer than 1.3 million in the 2016 primary. Nearly 2.4 million requested vote-by-mail ballots had not been returned.

NBC 6 will have complete coverage of all the results starting with a special hour-long newscast at 7 p.m. as well as all the results recapped throughout the night and on the 11 p.m. news.

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