Florida Man did some shoe-leather (OK sneakers) reporting yesterday to see how early voting was going in Broward County.
The Northwest Regional Library is the site nearest me and I’ve voted there many times after wading through a gauntlet of candidates and their friends outside the doors.
The mob would thrust flyers into your hands and your pockets and under your hat as you tried to get to the library door. They shouted, “Vote for Jones for county judge. He’s got a nice haircut and finally passed the bar last month.” Or, “Vote for me and I’ll clean your house every Wednesday. I promise.”
Anyway, I was surprised to see there was no gauntlet, none. The mob had been moved 150 feet away from the doors for security reasons and it wasn’t even a scene anymore.
The few die-hards were spread out and reduced to sitting under tents and waving signs mostly with print too small to read.
A 2024 Florida statute says in typical statute language, “No person, political committee, or other group or organization may solicit voters inside the polling place or within 150 feet of a secure ballot intake station or the entrance to any polling place . . . Before the opening of a secure ballot intake station location, a polling place, or an early voting site, the clerk or supervisor shall designate the no-solicitation zone and mark the boundaries.”
It was 1:30 in the afternoon and I could see the line from where I was standing, 151 feet away. It was long and orderly. Broward County votes Democratic so there should’t be any fights in line.
To check my research, I went to another library today and saw the same picture. No gauntlet, no yelling. All quiet on all fronts.
So far in Broward County the predicted chaos hasn’t materialized, the globe is still spinning and all was well.
