Early Voting for Broward Voters in the November 7, 2006 Primary Election

Early Voting October 23 to November 5, 2006 Monday through Friday, 10:00 am-6:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am-3:00 pm, Sunday 1:00 pm-4:00 pm.

About EarlyVoting.ORG

EarlyVoting.ORG is a nonpartisan web site of Philip Busey, who is solely responsible for the content.  The purpose is to help voters Vote Early, by providing accurate directions and maps to Early Voting locations, and by providing other information on Early Voting such as what to bring and what to expect at the Early Voting polling sites.  This information is only for Broward County, Florida.  EarlyVoting.ORG is not associated with any public agency or any political party.

While every effort possible is made to provide accurate information, no liability or warranty is expressed or implied.  It is the Broward County Supervisor of Elections (954) 357-7050 and the Division of Elections, Florida Department of State (850) 245-6200, who are responsible for all voting activity in Broward County, as represented in links to their web sites.  Voters are personally responsible to make sure that they conform to all requirements of the law in order to vote in Broward County, by following the instructions of those agencies.

Voting reform was started in the U.S. during the Revolutionary War, when absentee ballots were given soldiers, to let them vote without having to go home.  Voting is a hard-won freedom, and it's getting harder in some metropolitan areas.

People in Broward have had to be ingenious.  Early Voting is a new way that many can vote in Broward, but voting reform was not started here.  Early Voting for Broward County was enabled by a Bill of the Florida Legislature, as an extension of Absentee Ballots.  Leon County, Miami-Dade County, and some other Florida Counties have adopted a form of Early Voting.

Early Voting (in some counties called "Advanced Voting" or "Prevoting" or "Convenience Voting") is an adaptation of Absentee Voting.  No longer do you need to be out of town or sick in the hospital to be able to vote before the official date of the election.  The advantage of Early Voting is that in many areas, particularly urban areas such as Broward County Florida, it may be difficult or impossible for people to get to their polling places on the day of the General Election.

As an example, it is common that in many families, both parents work, and have to take their children early to school or day-care, and pick them up late.  The typical day away from the home (and the assigned polling place) may be 12 hours or more.  Many Broward County voters work in a neighboring county.  Even if the employer allows the employees to leave work during the day to vote, it may require an absence of 3-4 hours just for commuting time, plus whatever delay occurs at the polling place.  In the case of voters who must take unplanned travel from the polling areas, it may be too late to request a traditional Absentee Ballot, which must be mailed to the voter in time for the election.

Recently, as a result of decennial reapportionment, large numbers of voters discovered that their polling places had moved to unfamiliar locations, plus with the new electronic voting machines, there were problems with polling places opening several hours late, or closing earlier than required.  Voters were turned away and told to come back, but many never returned.  As a result, large numbers of registered voters did not to vote.

Broward has more registered voters than in any other county of Florida.  Let's make sure everybody gets to the polling place, gets to vote, and that every vote is counted!