Record Number Of Voters Cast Ballots In Broward County
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - A record 964,000 people voted in Broward this election cycle.
That's about 76 percent of all registered voters.
Despite that large number, all precincts were reporting in before 9:30 p.m.
In the past, Broward was known around the nation for chaotic elections.
One of the factors in the record-breaking vote is that the vast majority of the ballots were counted by the time the polls closed.
"Things were front-loaded to an extreme," said Broward Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci.
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'I Was Surprised, There Was Zero Lines', Broward Voters Wait To Vote Until Election Day
"That's why tonight 80% of our outcome was reported by 7 p.m. That is because we had the early votes accounted for and the vote by mail accounted for in very large numbers," he said.
Elections officials tell us that all the polls opened on time in the morning. And very few problems were reported.
The final vote count won't be in for several days. The canvassing board has to review about 500 provisional ballots. They plan to do that on Thursday.
The county has 577 polling stations.
At the polling station in Miramar City Hall, there was an early rush when it opened.
In Plantation, Linda Bruns said she waited to vote until Election Day and it paid off.
"I was surprised, there was zero lines, it was the fastest vote I ever had," she said.
Tommy Valentine said he also waited because he wanted to avoid the early voting rush.
"It's been crazy, I've never seen it before the early voting," he said.
"I don't feel comfortable doing it by mail so that's why I'm here today," said Andrea Braeto.
"I just wanted to make sure I know my ballot was going in that box," said Marisol Tammero.
That sentiment was shared by many who chose to wait to vote until Election Day even if they didn't have to wait that long to do it.
"Makes me feel proud to exercise my right, I always wait until the last day," said Demetrius Saintilien as he left the Miramar polling location, minutes after casting his ballot.
When early voting officially ended Sunday in Broward, more than 826,000 ballots had been cast in the county through in-person voting and mail-in voting.
Sixty-six percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Democrats have already cast ballots in the county.
"Because of the coronavirus, people have front-loaded this election. Almost 70% have cast a ballot before Election Day," said Antonacci.
