November 5 voting starts this month, and it is time to look alive, get ready, and talk to your friends and strangers.
Mail-in ballots for your election will go out from the Miami-Dade Department of Elections Sept. 26 – but you’ll have to ask first, if you haven’t voted in a recent primary, thanks to recent changes in state law. Early in-person voting will start Oct. 21.
To confirm your place on the rolls and to ensure you are registered, go to miamidade.gov/elections. The sooner you do this, the better. For more information, check the online version of this story for hyperlinks.
First, register to vote or ensure that you are registered by going to registertovoteflorida.gov/home.
You can request your vote-by-mail ballot online, by calling 305-499-8444, or by visiting the Elections Department headquarters at 2700 NW 87th Ave. in Doral, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Want to be a poll worker? Call the elections department at 305-499-8448. You’ll go through four hours of training, study your manual, show up at your designated precinct for about two hours of set-up Monday, Nov. 4, and work from 5:30 a.m. until after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. Total pay for a deputy or inspector is about $200.
Want to canvas or volunteer as a poll watcher? Democrats, Republicans, and various interest and local and national civic groups are recruiting volunteers.
The Republican National Committee’s site is training watchers at protectthevote.com to “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in elections nationwide.”
This is not to be confused with protectthevote.net or protectthevote.org. That is a national, nonpartisan election protection coalition to “advance and defend your right to vote.” It is particularly active in attracting young voters and is affiliated with the 54-year-old national watchdog group Common Cause.
The county elections site also has a link to upcoming municipal elections. On the Biscayne corridor, these include:
· Aventura
· Bal Harbour Village
· Biscayne Park
· El Portal
· The City of Miami
· Miami Beach
· North Bay Village
· North Miami
· North Miami Beach
· Sunny Isles Beach
· Surfside
For further information on recent results and upcoming races, we recommend Ballotpedia.org. Make use of its ballot lookup tool, hyperlinked on our online version. Enter your address, click on to your sample ballot, dive in, get informed, and act.
In the print edition of the Biscayne Times, the byline on this story should have read Mark Sell. We regret the error.