2020 FL Presidential Primary: Some Poll Workers Don't Show Up

FLORIDA — Despite the growing coronavirus concerns, the Florida presidential preference primary is underway today as Democrats and Republicans choose the candidates who will face off in the presidential election Nov. 3. But there are early reports of problems in some areas, with not all poll workers showing up as planned, which delayed some polling places opening on time.

Pundits see Florida's 219 delegates as a chance for former Vice President Joe Biden, who has surged in recent votes and captured the lion's share of Super Tuesday delegates, to lock up his party's nomination over rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Valrico resident Yvette Hammett described her polling place at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds as a "ghost town."

"When I arrived a little before 9 a.m., there were only two other voters there," she said. "After I filled out my ballet, I couldn't see where to take it. A volunteer guided me and said, "We were supposed to have 12 people today, but only four showed up."

Delray Beach resident Phil Metzler said he didn't even get a chance to vote.

"My precinct never opened up for voting," he said. "The reason given was that the person who has the ability to open the machines never showed up. I can't blame them. Who would want that job today's world. But our wonderful governor thought it was OK to get out the vote."

He said he asked if he could vote at a precinct closer to his home but was told his vote wouldn't count if he did. He was directed to the Supervisor of Elections Office in Palm Beach County.

"So I can go there and probably catch and spread the virus we are trying to stop or I can not vote," said Metzler. "I feel my right to vote has been suppressed or, better yet, stolen. As our governor has said, we voted in the Civil War. I think I would have survived better voting during that time period than I would have today. I call this voter theft by our governor."

Polls across Florida are open until 7 p.m. ET. Part of the panhandle is in the central time zone, so the Florida Division of Elections site will not begin displaying results until 8 p.m. ET when all polling places are closed.

Ohio canceled in-person voting in Tuesday's Democratic primary, an extraordinary step as states nationwide buckle down to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. But primaries in Arizona, Florida and Illinois could be Sanders' last stand in what is essentially a two-person race for the party's presidential nomination.

The three states voting have a combined 441 pledged delegates at stake. Florida's 219 pledged delegates are the big prize, and Illinois and Arizona have 155 and 67 delegates, respectively. Ohio would have added 136 delegates to the mix.

Sanders said after last week's primaries in six states that he would remain in the race as long as he has a path forward to the nomination, and that is being tested in Arizona, Florida and Illinois. Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard remains on the ballot but trails Biden and Sanders by hundreds of delegates.

Related: Coronavirus Hinders 3 States' Democratic Primaries; Ohio Cancels

The latest Real Clear Politics poll average shows Biden has the support of 65 percent of Democrats in the swing state, followed by Sanders with 23 percent and Gabbard with 2 percent, and the rest undecided.

Use the Voter Information Lookup section on the state election website to find your polling place and check your registration status.

Florida is a closed primary state. Therefore, in Tuesday's presidential preference primary, only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary and only registered Democrats can cast a ballot in the Democratic primary.

Visit Patch for the latest results of the presidential preference primary Tuesday.

President Donald Trump has three challengers on the Republican primary ballot.

Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente ran for president in 2016 as a Reform party candidate and Bill Weld, former governor of Massachusetts, ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 2016.
A third challenger, former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, ended his campaign Feb. 7 after the Iowa caucuses.

The Republican Party will select its presidential nominee at the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Aug. 24-27.

Democrats will see 16 candidates on the Democratic ballot, although 12 have already dropped out of the race including Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro.

Also ending their campaigns are former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, former Massachusetts governor and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick, former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak, California author and activist Marianne Williamson, New York entrepreneur and political commentator Andrew Yang and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The most recent candidates to call it quits were California hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The Democratic Party will host the 2020 Democratic National Convention July 13-15 in Milwaukee, Wisconson. The Democratic candidate needs support from 1,991 delegates to secure the nomination.

Why's Florida So Important?

In the past 10 presidential elections, Republican candidates have won Florida seven times and Democratic candidates have won Florida three times. In nine of those 10 elections, the candidate that won Florida ended up winning the presidential election. Only George H.W. Bush failed to win the presidency after winning Florida electoral votes.

In a November interview with public radio WUSF in Tampa, conservative commentator George Will said "Florida is incomparably the most important swing state in the country, and it is a genuine swing state."

A swing state is where the two major political parties have similar levels of support among voters viewed as important in determining the overall result of a presidential election.

There are 4,793,897 registered Republicans and 5,039,757 registered Democrats in Florida.

That's why in past elections, no presidential candidate has won Florida by a landslide.

"In 2012, Obama just won Florida over Romney by just over .9 percent," said Susan MacManus, a political analyst and professor at the University of South Florida. "This is a fiercely fought for state."

In 2016, Donald Trump won Florida over Hillary Clinton by a 1.2 percent margin.

With 29 electoral votes on the line, Will said anything can happen in Florida.

"Small changes can have enormous consequences radiating all across the country, if they start in Florida," he said. "Florida is a boulder dropped in the American lake, and it could create big waves."

One of those boulders could be the Puerto Rican vote.

In 2017 after Hurricane Maria devastated the American territory, 135,000 Puerto Ricans packed their bags and moved to the United States, with an estimated 50,000 relocating to Florida.

As a result, both parties have been actively cultivating the Puerto Rican vote.

Analysts say there is little doubt that Trump will win the Republican primary in Florida. And, according to the polls, Joe Biden appears to be a shoo-in in the Democratic primary.

According to the latest poll from Florida Atlantic University, Biden has a commanding 61 percent lead with Sanders at 25 percent.

Gravis Marketing puts Biden at 66 percent and Sanders at 25 percent.

And Univision predicts Biden will win with 63 percent over Sanders' 25 percent.