Local elections in Miami-Dade County hit a low point this year. In some districts, voter turnout was as slow as one percent while staying under 30% throughout the county.
On Election Day, November 2nd, early voting began in Miami-Dade County with a drastically low turnout of 11.17%.
The mayor elections that started during the month were the Hialeah Primary Elections, Homestead, Sunny Isles, Miami, and Miami Beach’s General elections. General elections take place for the choice of Mayor and City Council.
These elections averaged at a 17% voter turnout, which is very low compared to last year’s 75%. However, it needs to be taken into account that many of last year’s votes were due to the presidential election that took place.
This year, in exchange, is known as an “off-year,” or a year when there is no presidential or midterm election taking place. Typically, off-years have low voter turnouts and this year is no exception.
Regardless, local races are highly influential when it comes to making important choices for the public. Most decisions involving city budget, local laws, etc, ultimately come down to mayoral and city council decisions which tend to affect the regular person more directly.
By far, the most involved election in the county was for the position of Mayor of Hialeah. Out of the 109,738 registered voters, a total of 22,155 participated in the election. The win went to Esteban Bovo, whose run for mayor was endorsed by former President, Donald Trump.
Another race to be noted is that for Miami Mayor, where Francis X. Suarez won without much competition. Suarez had secured 79% of votes guaranteeing his re-election.
Along with leadership positions the ballot also held different bills; one for Miami, which was denied, and four for Miami Beach, which were all passed.
The Miami Lease Development Virginia Key Marina bill would have allowed the city of Miami to negotiate the construction of a marina taking place in Virginia Keys. This bill was not passed, however, if there had been a larger number of voters for the bill, it would have possibly been passed.
Similarly, all other decisions that were made during this election could have been changed if more voters had shown up. Voting is the foundation for democracy but it requires a majority to work, a majority which has not been seen in Miami Dade County’s local elections.
All throughout, candidates made efforts to draw voters to the ballots using banners, speeches, social media posts, and other ways. However, the effort was not enough for the majority of registered voters to show up at this election, which leaves the question of whether the results actually represent the feeling of the majority.
