At least 91 voting places moved because of coronavirus

Juan Penalosa
Democrats are trying to get an entire list.

At least 91 polling places around Florida have been moved due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.

Many sites, according to the Florida Democratic party, might be inappropriate for public gatherings, especially those that are at or near nursing homes or assisted living facilities.

The party said Saturday that Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee and Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ office had not responded to requests from the Democrats to release lists of polling places that county Supervisors of Elections had to relocate in recent days, so the party officials sought the information directly from the supervisors’ offices.

“We have been able to contact 58 of the 67 County Supervisors offices and they have communicated 91 precincts that have been closed or relocated as a result of the Governor’s call to close certain sites to protect at-risk populations,” FDP Executive Director Juan Peñalosa stated in a news release Monday.

“Our data team has identified 126,731 voters — who have not yet voted — who live in an affected precinct. We have begun texting and calling these voters and encouraging them to call their Supervisor of Elections to confirm their polling place in advance of tomorrow’s election,” he continued.

Peñalosa expressed confidence that county Supervisors of Elections have taken measures to ensure safe elections for those who turn up, but he expressed concern that DeSantis has not provided an updated list of polling site closures and changes. He urged the Governor to still do so.

“Florida Democrats understand the confluence of events that led to the closures just days before our election,” Peñalosa said. “We want to be good partners and help get the word out, but we need the State Department of Elections and the Governor to uphold their responsibility to our Democracy and release information of polling site re-locations so that the Florida Democratic Party, our 100+ staff and thousands of volunteers can help communicate these changes to voters.

Scott Powers

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at [email protected].



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories