'A Little Light': Broward & Miami-Dade Supervisors Of Elections Say Early Voting Off To Slow Start

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The push is underway for people to get out and vote.

"Right now, collectively among all of these various cities, turnout is only around 5% to 6%," said Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Christina White.

She says it always starts slow, then usually goes up to 20% by Election Day for non-presidential years.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people don't come out to vote because they feel that these local elections are not necessary, they only go out to the presidential elections. But this is where we go, we go here to our local politicians," said Anita Karpenkopf, a Hialeah voter.

Hialeah was just the latest in a string of cities to begin early voting. On the ballot there for residents to decide will be the race for mayor.

Broward County has also started its early voting.

"It was important to find a qualified replacement for him," said Broward County resident Esther Florence.

The election there will decide who replaces late Congressman Alcee Hastings.

"As far as early voting, early voting started on Saturday, Saturday and Sunday were a little light, but we still have seven more days of early voting, including today," Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said.

The state deadline to register to voted passed October 4, but registered voters can vote early at designated locations instead of just their home precinct on Election Day.

"This is an incredibly important election because, who is our member of congress is for this particular district is just an extremely important position, so I encourage people to take a look at it and find the candidate they can support and get out and vote," Scott added.

Vote-by-mail counts also remain low, but both supervisors believe that also goes up closer to Election Day.