# Florida Primary 03/15/2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 21, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666 "2016-02-21T03:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/21 "2016-03-05T16:29:23Z")
Early voting is open, and I have just done my duty. It’s a little inspiring to know my vote in a presidential election now actually makes a difference, after all those years in Massachusetts. Never missed an election in my life anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/22 "2016-03-05T16:30:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Does that include Naples and Fort Myers? That’s Southwest Florida, AIUI. South Florida is the Atlantic coast. The Everglades separate them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/23 "2016-03-05T16:54:15Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > That’s Southwest Florida, AIUI. South Florida is the Atlantic coast. The Everglades separate them. Then why is the University of South Florida here in Tampa? That always baffled me. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/24 "2016-03-05T16:59:09Z")
[I love Wiki:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Florida) > [@](#): > > In 1957, the Florida Cabinet approved the name “University of South Florida.”[12] At the time, USF was the southernmost university in the state university system. Still not a great answer. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/25 "2016-03-06T01:34:36Z")
As an aside - a friend of mine (also in Broward) voted today, and posted her “I voted early” sticker. I was disappointed that I didn’t get a sticker in my absentee pack. I assume it’s county specific. ETA: Plantation, here. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/26 "2016-03-06T02:28:03Z")
I met some folks from Palm Beach county for lunch. They had their “I voted” stickers on. I asked how long they’d spent voting. About 30 minutes they said. I mentioned my absentee vote took abut 5 seconds. But they \*did \*get those cool brag-stickers, so it was all worth it. They were less than amused. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/27 "2016-03-06T02:44:56Z")
Call me a traditionalist, but I vote on election day in person. My vote will be for Rubio for strategic reasons. Although it’s looking like Rubio will blow it, so it’s probably time for him to make an exit. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/28 "2016-03-06T02:49:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I met some folks from Palm Beach county for lunch. They had their “I voted” stickers on. I asked how long they’d spent voting. About 30 minutes they said. I mentioned my absentee vote took abut 5 seconds. But they \*did \*get those cool brag-stickers, so it was all worth it. They were less than amused. 😃 It sounds like you were being kind of a jerk about it. I don’t know why you wanted to make fun of people who went to the trouble to vote. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/29 "2016-03-06T02:54:56Z")
I wish I could vote in person, but our precinct here in California has gone all absentee. I hate it, I always have this nagging feeling that they just throw the absentee ballots away. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/30 "2016-03-06T03:29:28Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Call me a traditionalist, but I vote on election day in person. My vote will be for Rubio for strategic reasons. Although it’s looking like Rubio will blow it, so it’s probably time for him to make an exit. I’ve been burned by long lines voting day of, and long lines in early voting. It’s too unpredictable for me. The absentee ballot resolves that for me, at least. Your way does have the advantage of having the most up-to-date information, however. And the best chance of getting a sticker. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/31 "2016-03-06T04:36:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I met some folks from Palm Beach county for lunch. They had their “I voted” stickers on. I asked how long they’d spent voting. About 30 minutes they said. The hell? It took me maybe 5 minutes. Including the sticker. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/32 "2016-03-06T06:20:33Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Call me a traditionalist, but I vote on election day in person. My vote will be for Rubio for strategic reasons. Although it’s looking like Rubio will blow it, so it’s probably time for him to make an exit. If not Rubio, who would be your second choice if I may ask? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/33 "2016-03-06T09:06:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I met some folks from Palm Beach county for lunch. They had their “I voted” stickers on. I asked how long they’d spent voting. About 30 minutes they said. I mentioned my absentee vote took abut 5 seconds. But they \*did \*get those cool brag-stickers, so it was all worth it. They were less than amused. 😃 They probably took the time to enjoy the exhibit of Great Florida Ballot Items. The butterfly thing is cool, but the hanging chads are the best part. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/34 "2016-03-06T12:39:20Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I met some folks from Palm Beach county for lunch. They had their “I voted” stickers on. I asked how long they’d spent voting. About 30 minutes they said. I mentioned my absentee vote took abut 5 seconds. But they \*did \*get those cool brag-stickers, so it was all worth it. They were less than amused. 😃 > [@Frank](#): > > It sounds like you were being kind of a jerk about it. I don’t know why you wanted to make fun of people who went to the trouble to vote. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The hell? It took me maybe 5 minutes. Including the sticker. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > They probably took the time to enjoy the exhibit of Great Florida Ballot Items. The butterfly thing is cool, but the hanging chads are the best part. Less jerky than I told the story above. They were family, so we had a laugh about it. But this is serious stuff. They’d lived in PBC for the 2000 election and told us of having walked out of the polling place and each said to the other almost simultaneously “that ballot was so confusing I’m not sure who or what I voted for.” This was hours before anyone else or the news had any clue anything was out of the ordinary. These are informed aware smart educated people who’d studied the initiatives, knew the candidates, etc. Not just some clueless rubes. So this time in 2016 they were primed for more buffoonery. They were not disappointed in that. When they got to the polling place there wasn’t crowd. But since they’re D voters their ballots had to be printed on-site. Or so the referees said. Meantime the R ballots were already there in piles and a dozen or more R voters came in & received theirs while my cousins waited. Naturally there was some problem with the printers. About 20-ish minutes later they get their ballots. Unlike the typical Scantron fill in the bubble type, there’s some odd procedure to draw a line from the office to the person you want for the office. How the heck that’ll be efficiently machine-scored is a mystery to this former IT guy. The good news is there’s exactly one race to vote for and only 3 choices. But that won’t be true in Nov when it really counts; there’ll be dozens of races and issues. This ballot design seems almost designed to produce ambiguous or almost-votes with lots of room for judgment calls about each voter’s intent. The referees gave them a blank ballot and a privacy sleeve to put it into after they’ve filled it out. To turn in the ballot they were asked to remove the marked ballot from the privacy sleeve and hand it \*face up \*to the referee who then looked at it before feeding it into a scanning machine / ballot box. This is utterly unlike anything I have ever heard of in any of the 8 or 10 states I’ve voted in over almost 40 years. It sure seems like skullduggery is still rampant in Palm Beach county. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/35 "2016-03-06T13:11:15Z")
Wow, thanks for those details. _Plus ça change._ ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/36 "2016-03-06T13:17:16Z")
I predict Trump will win because I hope Rubio wins. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/37 "2016-03-06T14:18:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Unlike the typical Scantron fill in the bubble type, there’s some odd procedure to draw a line from the office to the person you want for the office. How the heck that’ll be efficiently machine-scored is a mystery to this former IT guy. The good news is there’s exactly one race to vote for and only 3 choices. But that won’t be true in Nov when it really counts; there’ll be dozens of races and issues. This ballot design seems almost designed to produce ambiguous or almost-votes with lots of room for judgment calls about each voter’s intent. Oh Palm Beach, why do you have to be different? To be honest, I think the reality isn’t quite as bad as the story. Next to each candidate, there is a broken arrow, and you have to complete the arrow for the one you want to vote for. But why? Why not go with the old standard, trusted scantron system? [Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections - Elections 2016 page](http://www.pbcelections.org/items.aspx?id=246&s=246) [Sample DEM ballot](http://www.pbcelections.org/GetDocument.aspx?id=1087) (warning: PDF) [Sample REP ballot](http://www.pbcelections.org/GetDocument.aspx?id=1086) (warning: PDF) > [@](#): > > The referees gave them a blank ballot and a privacy sleeve to put it into after they’ve filled it out. To turn in the ballot they were asked to remove the marked ballot from the privacy sleeve and hand it \*face up \*to the referee who then looked at it before feeding it into a scanning machine / ballot box. If that happened to me, I’d be reporting it to the Supervisor of Elections office and the local news. That’s troubling. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/38 "2016-03-06T14:55:07Z")
Thanks for the ballot links. Although that design is still screwy, it makes more sense than what I interpreted my cousins to say. It’s certainly be easy to machine score. By contrast, here in adjacent Broward county the ballots look like this (pdf) : D: [Locate Election Ballot Style](http://www.voterfocus.com/WHSampleBallot.php?county=broward&precinct=A001.0&party=DEM&election=211&city=11&ward=111) R: [Locate Election Ballot Style](http://www.voterfocus.com/WHSampleBallot.php?county=broward&precinct=A001.0&party=REP&election=211&city=11&ward=111) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/39 "2016-03-07T12:45:16Z")
Early voting (all my numbers rounded): For my county (Broward) ref [http://www.browardsoe.org/](http://www.browardsoe.org/) and the early voting totals link at upper left we see: out of 1.8million residents we have 1.1million registered voters. So far 54K or 5% have voted absentee and in the first two (weekend) days of early voting 16K or 1.5% have voted in person. For adjacent Palm Beach county ref [http://www.pbcelections.org/](http://www.pbcelections.org/) we see: out of 1.3million residents they have 850K registered voters with 10K = 1.1% voting early & no info about absentee. For adjacent Miami-Dade county ref [Elections](http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/) we see: They have 2.7million residents and I couldn’t find info on total registered voters. The bulk of the 172K absentee ballots were sent to the voters on 2/16 and so far 88K have returned theirs. Their early voting started earlier than the other counties and so far 30K early votes have been cast. Those three counties represent between 1/4th & 1/3rd of the state. We’ve got very little active evidence of an election campaign in progress out on the streets or on the local airwaves and there’s already 6-ish% of the vote in the can. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666/40 "2016-03-07T15:56:15Z")
Except for downtown Coral Springs where a couple dozen Trump fans hang out and blast patriotic tunes.🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-primary-03-15-2016/746666.md?page=3)