Voters Take Advantage Of Early Voting In Dade, Broward
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — Early voting got underway Monday in all but 17 of Florida's 67 counties, and some people couldn't wait.
At Miami-Dade's election headquarters in Doral, more than a dozen people lined up before the polls officially opened at 7 a.m.
"I'm an early voter, I have always been an early voter," said Don Lewis who added that he's encouraged his employees to take advantage of early voting.
"I'm allowing our employees to go vote during working hours, it gives them more of an incentive to go out and vote, I am not telling them who to vote for but to participate in the election," he said.
Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Christina White said things got underway Monday morning without a hitch.
"We had a very smooth start at our 30 locations which opened up at 7 a.m. and welcomed voters," said White.
Voting went on well after 7 p.m. at the Coral Gables Library. Those who made it in line just at closing time got to cast ballots.
Anthony Hessami said the library has been busy all day long.
"The line was way out to the street, almost," he said.
But on an opening day when 35,135 people voted early in Miami-Dade – over 10,000 more than 2012 – some said the wait wasn't all that bad.
"They were long but they moved very quickly, so very glad," said Margarita Aguilar.
It was a similar scene in Broward County where there are 21 early voting locations.
Linda Mast came out with her 90-year-old mother Helen for the very first time.
"I don't want to die before voting for a woman, yes, it is my first time voting ever ever," said Helen.
A total of 31,338 people early voted in Broward on Monday. It's a big jump from the 28,000 in 2012.
Whether it's your first time voting, or not, election officials say you should have no qualms about casting your ballot.
"In the State of Florida there are no rigged elections, our voter rules are accurate and constant with list maintenance being done to make sure voters on our lists should be and of the equipment being tested prior. There are paper ballot audits afterwards so we are telling voters they should feel confident," said White.
And that is just what voters want to hear in this critical election.
Voters wanting to take advantage of early voting may do so until Sunday, November 6th in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and until Saturday, November 5th in Monroe County.
Click on the corresponding links to find early voting locations for: Miami-Dade County, Broward County and Monroe County.
Voting can also be done through absentee ballots which will be mailed to your home. To do that, you must request a ballot by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2nd. To request an absentee ballot in Miami-Dade click here or here for Broward or here for Monroe counties.
Complete #Campaign2016 coverage here: cbsmiami.com/campaign2016
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