Thousands of voters to cast ballots in Tuesday's Florida primaries
MIAMI - Thousands of voters across the state will cast their ballots Tuesday in the Florida primaries.
In Miami-Dade and Broward, more than 200,000 votes have already been cast through mail-in ballots and in-person early voting.
In Miami-Dade, more than 125,000 voters have returned their Vote-by-Mail ballots and more than 70,000 voted early in person. In Broward, more than 101,000 sent in mail-in ballots and almost 34,000 went to the polls during early voting.
On Tuesday, the polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Any voters waiting in line at 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.
Florida is a closed primary. Voters must be registered as either a Democrat or Republican.
In both Miami-Dade and Broward, voters will decide some very important races.
For the first time in about 60 years, Miami-Dade will elect a sheriff. Fifteen candidates are vying for the job.
County residents will decide on a mayor. Current Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is running. She's facing six challengers: Manny Cid, Shlomo Danzinger, Carlos Farin, Alex Otaola, Miguel Quintero and Eddy Rojas.
In Broward, residents will also be voting for a sheriff. Current Sheriff Gregory Tony is facing three challengers: Steven Geller, David Howard and Al Pollock.
Compared with the wild twists and turns of the presidential election, the state's primary on Tuesday will be relatively tame. The only statewide race on the ballot is for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Rick Scott, who will learn who he'll face in November.
While Scott technically has a primary, he is expected to win easily over two minor candidates with little name identification or money.
The leading candidate in the Democratic primary is former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who in 2018 became the first Ecuadorian American and first South American-born woman elected to Congress. She lost her seat after one term.
Mucarsel-Powell has the backing of party leaders and has raised $12 million for the race. Scott is already campaigning as if she will be his opponent, but she first faces Navy veteran and businessman Stanley Campbell, Army veteran and businessman Rod Joseph and Brian Rush, a former four-term Florida state representative.
Also on the ballot are races for the U.S. House of Representatives, state legislature, commission seats, school board seats and judges.
Election day voters must go to their assigned voting location and bring a valid and current identification that contains a photo and their signature.
In Florida, Republicans outnumber Democrats 5.3 million to 4.3 million, with 3.5 million voters choosing not to register with a party.
As of Friday morning, nearly 1.6 million of Florida's 13.5 million voters had cast votes by mail or at early voting sites, which indicates a low overall primary turnout. Republicans have cast about 733,00 ballots, compared with about 515,000 Democrats.
