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Early Voting Takes Determination

By Professor University of Miami School of Law

Colleagues who have voted early at the Coral Gables library report long lines, and long wait times.

The Miami-Dade Elections Department has posted a list of early voting sites with approximate wait times at each location.   At this writing, the most recent data is for 2pm yesterday, and wait times varied from thirty minutes to two and half hours. I think 30 minutes might be tolerable, but to run a system that makes voters wait two and a half hours is a sign of either poor planning or an attempt to suppress the vote. Being a believer that one should rarely attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, I’m prepared to believe it’s the elections dept. being its usual wonderful self, but even so….
 
Update — I found the following in my email:

To help students, faculty, and staff take advantage of early voting, the University will be providing free shuttle service to the Coral Gables library election site starting today. Shuttles from Stanford Circle on the Coral Gables campus will be running today, Thursday, October 23 and tomorrow, Friday, October 24 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; next Monday, October 27 through Friday, October 31 from 12 to 6 p.m.; and Saturday, November 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If the wait times are a couple of hours, seems to me there’s a danger anyone who goes out after about noon on these shuttles might get stranded, or will give up and go home. And as for voting on your lunch hour, fuggedaboutit.

Here’s a snapshot of the table.

Location Wait Time (Hr:Min) Last Updated North Dade Regional Library 2455 NW 183rd Street 3:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm North Miami Public Library 835 NE 132nd Street 1:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Lemon City Library 430 NE 61st Street 2:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Aventura Government Center 19200 West Country Club Drive 2:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Miami Beach City Hall 1700 Convention Center Drive 0:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm West Miami - City Hall 901 SW 62nd Avenue 0:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Coral Gables Library 3443 Segovia Street 1:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm South Dade Regional Library 10750 SW 211th Street 1:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Florida City - City Hall 404 West Palm Drive 2:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm West Dade Regional Library 9445 SW 24th Street 1:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm West Kendall Regional Library 10201 Hammocks Blvd. 2:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Elections Dept. (SOE Main Office) 2700 NW 87th Avenue 1:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Miami Lakes Public Library 6699 Windmill Gate Road 2:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Elections Dept. (Stephen P. Clark Center) 111 NW 1st Street 0:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Kendall Branch Library 9101 SW 97th Avenue 0:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Model City Library (at the Caleb Center) 2211 NW 54th Street 0:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm John F Kennedy Library 190 West 49th Street 1:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm Coral Reef Library 9211 SW 152nd Street 1:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm City of Miami - City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive 1:00 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm North Shore Branch Library 7501 Collins Avenue 0:30 Oct 22 2008 2:00pm

 

Full post as published by Discourse.net on October 23, 2008 (boomark / email).