In One Miami Polling Place, Citizens Are Motivated to Vote – and Help the Vacillating Make up Their Minds

MIAMI – As with most polling locations, people seeking to contribute to the electoral process are met with signs and pamphleteers seeking to sway some late, undecided voters. Especially in this tight presidential race and with important amendments on the ballot in Florida, campaign volunteers came out in full force to support the candidates and causes they hoped would win in Tuesday’s election.

At a polling location in Miami-Dade, the Coral Gables Library, electioneers were told by poll workers to refrain from being in eyeshot of entrance to the voting location. Florida law states that no one may “solicit voters inside the polling place or within 150 feet of a secure ballot intake station or the entrance to any polling place,” a broad description that gets interpreted differently throughout Florida as schools, libraries and houses of worship serve as polling stations.

Alex Valdez, a 30-year-old Miami resident, was told by a poll worker to cross the street while holding up a flag promoting former President Donald Trump. Decked in full Trump attire, Valdez wore a red-and-white MAGA hat as well as a shirt covered in images of the former president.

“I like how things went from 2016 to 2020, and the last four years have sucked, honestly,” Valdez said, explaining his ardent support for Trump. Valdez shared that he had never gone out in support of another candidate in this manner.

Despite the absence of voters entering or leaving the polling location showing clear support for Trump, many passing cars honked their horns and held their thumbs up in support of the former president’s controversial candidacy.

Valdez, a supply chain manager, decided to vote on Election Day, as he suspected early voting locations would have longer lines. As a new homeowner, he believes that his mortgage rates would have been significantly lower under Trump than the current administration.

Across the street, closer to the library, a group of advocates for Amendment 4 held up “Yes on 4” signs while surrounded by Kamala Harris signs staked into the ground. 

Marcia Reisman was one advocate, holding up a sign with “Yes on 4” on one side, and “No Government in Healthcare” on the opposite. The issue that most motivated her to campaign at polling places was Amendment 4, aimed at restoring access to abortion up through “viability,” which is usually considered to be 24 weeks of pregnancy. 

Reisman's husband is an obstetrician-gynecologist and she believes his Hippocratic Oath – a pledge that physicians take to uphold ethical standards – ensures he will act in his patients’ best interests. “Doctors not politicians,” Reisman urged, regarding who should have a say in healthcare.

“Can you imagine a group of women telling men what they should do about their healthcare?” Reisman posed.

Reisman believes there has been misguided abortion opposition, as the amendment has no language that would change parental rights, despite that making up a significant part of the argument against the ballot initiative. 

While Reisman was out at this Miami polling place on Tuesday, her ballot was already cast. She decided to vote early and in person because she was concerned about her vote being counted and possible disruptions on Election Day.

“When I saw some ballot boxes burning, I didn’t want to take a chance,” Reisman said, referring to incidents in Oregon and Washington state.

Among those showing up at this polling place was an incumbent candidate for the Florida House in district 114. Demi Busatta Cabrera, a Republican, was outside her polling location in her district – which includes neighborhoods such as Coral Gables, South Miami and Cutler Bay – to talk with her constituents as she sought re-election for her third term, as well as to cast her own ballot.

“When I first ran it was because I wanted to be a voice for my neighbors,” said Busatta Cabrera, 34. “I want to continue to fight for my community in Tallahassee.”

The many signs and people electioneering outside polling stations may sway some voters. However, at the Coral Gables Library, many of the voters rushed by the crowd of sign-holders and eleventh-hour electioneers avoiding eye contact, seemingly having the opposite effect.