MIAMI (WSVN) - South Florida is now just a day away from the start of early voting, and local election officials said they are prepared for what is expected to be a high and possibly historic turnout.
Speaking with 7News on Sunday, Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Christina White said the large number of mail-in ballots suggests this is shaping out to be one of the biggest elections in recent history.
“We have mailed out a historic number of vote-by-mail ballots already, over 610,000,” she said.
Despite Election Day being just over two weeks away, millions of Americans have already cast their vote.
“I’m expecting we’ll have have between 400,000 and 500,000 vote-by-mail ballots,” said Broward Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci.
Out of the nearly 2 million Floridians who have already voted, more than 320,000 live in South Florida.
In Miami-Dade, election officials said they are anticipating an 80% voter turnout.
Poll workers have been finishing up last-minute preparations for the big day.
“Our voting system is accurately programmed and tabulating exactly as it should,” said White.
In Broward, ballots are already being counted. The canvassing board is hard at work, looking at ballot discrepancies.
Election officials said they have seen a surge of vote-by-mail ballots. There are several ways to make sure a vote has been cast.
“Ninety percent of our 170,000 ballots have been delivered by the post office,” said Antonacci.
Voters may also cut out the middle man and drop it off themselves at any early voting site in their county starting Monday, or any designated drop-off box.
Voters can always track their ballot online to make sure it was counted. If there is a problem, they will be notified and have a few days after Election Day to correct it.
“You have until Thursday at 5 p.m. to correct it, and if you do so by the deadline, then we’re able to process it,” said White.
As for the safety and security of polling stations, Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony has something to say about that.
“If we get a call that there’s an issue of someone who is egregiously intimidating and bullying individuals from being able to safely, soundly and without any form of disruption come in and vote, I can’t care less who you vote for, but that’s their right,” he said, “and so our goal is to make sure, if that call comes, we’ll be ready to support that initiative.”
Early voting in South Florida starts Monday and runs through Nov. 1, the Sunday before Election Day.
For more information about early voting locations and times in Broward County click here.
For early voting locations in Miami-Dade, click here.
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