Strong Voter Turnout In Miami-Dade Recall Election
MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) -- Miami-Dade voters are making their voices heard in the recall election for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and County Commissioner Natacha Seijas.
Turnout in special elections is typically much lower than in general elections but after one week of early voting, there's nearly as much turnout as last November's general election, according to CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald.
In the first week of early voting, nearly 33,000 people voted. That number is expected to rise in the second week of early voting, according to Miami-Dade Supervisor of Election Lester Sola. More than 50,000 absentee ballots have already been mailed in as well.
Both Alvarez and Seijas are in the fight of their political lives.
A recent Miami Herald-CBS4-Univision 23 public opinion poll showed that Alvarez and Seijas will likely be turned out of office when the recall election currently underway ends March 15th. The poll, released Sunday, was conducted last week by Bendixen & Amandi International among 400 voters who had voted, or plan to vote, in the recall election.
The Alvarez recall drive was sparked by South Florida auto tycoon Norman Braman who mounted a well-funded campaign to collect tens of thousands of signatures. Braman said he targeted Alvarez because of his support for a property tax increase for some homeowners last year even though most county homeowners saw their property taxes go down. Alvarez said the limited tax increase was necessary to avoid huge cuts to essential services such as the police and fire departments.
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