Florida is one of the key states in the upcoming presidential elections, where both current head of the White House Democrat Barack Obama and ex-governor of the Massachusetts State Republican Mitt Romney are actively fighting for the victory. According to the American laws the winner in this state gets all 29 votes from the voters of the state regardless of the fact that the candidate would win by one vote. The State of Florida is known for the recount of votes in 2000. At first, the victory in that state was awarded to Al Gore but after the recount, George W. Bush was recognized the winner in this state and thanks to this he became the president of the United States.
Since then three different versions of conducting the voting were tried out here (and in America the state authorities are responsible for the organization of the elections, therefore, people say that in the United States there is, in fact, not just one presidential election but 51 elections according to the number of the states, plus the District of Columbia) and settled with the one when a voter fills out his own ballot in the voting booth. Electronic voting using the touch screen technique was designed for people with visual impairment.
As the Election Commission of the Miami-Dade County District explained, people want to see what they filled out and make sure that they made no mistakes, and even if they something is wrong, they can get another ballot, while the old one is destroyed.By the way, there are 1.3 million voters at the Miami-Dade County District. There are 91 person on the staff of the Election Commission and for the election period nearly 1,000 temporary workers are employed. It is planned to spend 11.5 million dollars on this year’s elections in this district.
When a group of Ukrainian journalists was invited to this district, it seemed that elections are already in full fledge motion here because there were lots of people in every room near the booths. In fact, as we were told, a few weeks before the actual voting, they test the technique of filling out the ballots, as well as the vote-counting system itself. Some registered voters came here to clarify the data, because the time for registration has already finished. By the way, it is forbidden to film the voting process because it violates the privacy of an individual. You also cannot take photos of the volunteers from both Democratic and Republican Parties, encourage voters to register and then come to remind them to go to the polls and vote. This was explained to us in Obama’s election headquarters in Fort Lauderdale poor quarter.
In the US the absentee voting and early voting are very popular. According to some estimates, the number of voters who will use such opportunity may be a quarter of the total number of people who will take part in the vote.
People can also vote not in the place of their residence. In order to do so, you must first register and send an e-mail or a regular letter with an application to the head of the district polling station. The election commission checks whether the applicant is a resident of the state and then a ballot, which was printed by the commission, is sent by mail.
The voter will receive a ballot which he has to fill out and send to the polling station no later than by 7 p.m. on the election day. Early voting in Florida will begin on October 27. There are 20 places for early voting in the district.
The filled out ballots received before the election day are kept in stock at the polling station and they will be counted on Monday before the elections.
The ballots and respectively the votes for the candidates are counted by special machines. Therefore, it is clear why the results of the vote become known so quickly despite such a huge number of voters and the number of questions put to vote.
Practically, it is done by a scanner that reads the ballot and sends data to a server that is located in a different well-secured place. There is also a backup server just in case of some emergency.
By the way, apart from Obama-Biden and Romney-Ryan there are 11 other pairs of individuals running for president. On the ballot of the Miami-Dade County, State of Florida there are also names of candidates for the post of a US Senator, four congressmen, candidates to the Senate (2 seats), and the State House of Representatives (14 seats). Voters have to decide whether to leave at the current positions the three judges of the Supreme Court, six Circuit Court judges, and other officials at the local level. Besides, the voters will be asked about whether they agree to make 12 amendments to the state constitution and they will be also asked eight more questions regarding the issues that are important to the local people.
A ballot in Florida is printed by the district committee on special equipment and on special paper in three languages: English, Spanish, and Creole. This is done to encourage minorities who speak these two languages to vote.
In local elections, candidates mainly rely on personal contacts, they go from home to home in order to shake hands with the voters and give them their business card.
Candidates also use television advertising, but according to two candidates for councilors in the Municipality of Miami-Dade County, one of whom is a republican and another one is a democrat, advertising in newspapers or on social networks is not effective. However, they believe that it is important for people to know about them. In an attempt to do so, one of the candidates used the method of placing tape with his picture on the backs of seats in public transport. Both candidates said that the outcome of the vote could be determined or decided by 2,000 voters. That is why the method of direct contact with voters, like hand shaking, is very important. The more people you will shake hands with, the higher is the probability that they would vote for you. Besides, campaigning door to door helps to better understand which of the voters will vote for you, rather than participating in some party.
According to the candidates to the city-hall positions in Miami-Dade County the biggest bribe they can afford is handing out a business card or treating a voter to some coffee. By the way, it is rather interesting how the authorities communicate with the local people on a daily basis. There has been recently built a city hall in Miami-Dade County. At 5 p.m. on Friday there was no one in the hall: no traditional security or police as is often the case in city halls in Ukraine. This modern institution is a center of solving the citizens’ problems. This is exactly what is written in English in the hall where people come with their problems. A clerk meets them there, invites to take a seat, and then brings in a specialist that can help resolve the issue. This means that a person does not run around the offices in various parts of the city, as is usually the case in Ukraine.
