LTC 180-2024 Letter From Christina White, Supervisor Of Elections Requesting MB to Adjust Election DatesMIAMI BEACH
O FF IC E O F THE CITY CLERK
LT C #
LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Mayor Steven Meiner and Members of the City Commission
Rickelle Williams, Interim City Manager
Ricardo J. Dopico, City Atore', f
Rafael E. Granado, City Clerk / .d" /
May 10, 2024
Letter From Christina White, Supervisor Of Elections, Requesting
Consideration For Miami Beach To Adjust Its Election Dates To Create A
Four-Week Interval Between The General And Run-Off Elections
Attached please find a letter from Christina White, Supervisor of Elections for Miami-Dade County,
"strongly urging" the City of Miami Beach to adjust its election dates to create a four-week interval
between the General and Run-Off Elections.
Supervisor of Elections White explains in her letter that the current two-week turnaround is
insufficient for the current election process, which include Early Voting and Vote by Mail. The tight
schedule leads to challenges in post-election procedures, potentially disenfranchising voters and
complicating candidate outreach. Supervisor of Elections White proposes the October/November1
election schedule as the optimal solution, highlighting its benefits for election preparation, voter
participation, and candidate logistics.
Please note that Supervisor of Election White has sent this request to all three cities that share the
same schedule (Miami Beach, Miami, and Hialeah).
F:\CLER\$ALL\REG\L TCs\Letter from Christina White - 4 week interval request.docx
1 Supervisor of Election White's proposal would mean that the City's General Election would be held on
the first Tuesday in October in odd years and its Run-Off Election on the first Tuesday in November in odd
years.
180-2024
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Elections
2700 NW 87th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33172
T 305.499-8683 F 305-499-8501
TTY 305-499-8480
m iam idade.g ov
April 23, 2024
Rafael E. Granado, City Clerk
City of Miami Beach
Office of the City Clerk
1700 Convention Center Drive, Suite 200
Miami Beach, Fl 33139
Dear Rafael:
As a follow up to previous conversations with your Charter Review Task Force and your
office, this letter serves as a formal request for the City of Miami Beach to consider
rescheduling their election dates to provide for four weeks between the regularly
scheduled General and Run-Off Elections.
More specifically, this request is for all three cities who share the same schedule (Miami
Beach, Miami, and Hialeah) to adopt the dates prescribed by the City of Homestead for
their regularly scheduled election, which would mean your General Election will be held
on the first Tuesday in October in odd years and your Run-Off Election held on the first
Tuesday in November in odd years. Changing the election dates will benefit the Elections
Department in our ability to seamlessly conduct your election, and your voters, as well as
candidates, as it provides additional time. The two-week turnaround as currently
scheduled was designed for a time when elections were conducted exclusively on
Election Day with no Early Voting or Vote by Mail. Now that modern-day elections include
Early Voting, Vote by Mail, and significant post-election requirements, a two-week
turnaround creates a significant burden on all parties.
As you know, there are many steps involved in preparing for an election, all of which must
be done in a matter of days to conduct a Run-Off Election within two weeks. Below are
just a few:
• The General Election results cannot be certified until we have completed our post-
election procedures internally and the canvassing board has completed the review of
cure affidavits received for vote-by-mail ballots that had a signature deficiency as well
as provisional ballots. This occurs on the Friday after your election due to statutory
deadlines. This is already 3 days into the time allotted.
• Only then can the Department begin coding, proofing, and testing three different voting
systems (optical scan, express vote, and the accessible "enhanced ballot" system
required for our voters with disabilities).
• Only then can we send the ballot for printing. This now takes longer than in the past
as we print ballots by precinct, increasing the number of unique ballot variations.
• T h e n w e ca n be g in pro c e ss in g v o te -by -m a il ba llo ts fo r m a ilo ut to y o u r vo te rs .
• S e p a rate ly, w e m u st re s e t, re p ro g ra m , and re te st all e le ctio n eq u ip m e nt.
• C o n d u c t the state -m a n d a te d Lo g ic and A c c u ra cy Te st (L&A ).
• S e t up a n d co nd u c t E a rly Votin g .
• D e live r E le ctio n D a y eq u ip m e nt be fo re the M o n d a y se tup .
• T he fun c tio n s state d ab o v e w o u ld be furt he r de la y e d s ho uld a re c o u n t be c a lle d fr o m
the G e n e ra l E le ctio n .
A s ill u strate d ab o v e , m a n y of the se fun c tio n s m u s t be pe rf orm e d in se q u e n c e and w ith
ze ro to le ra n c e fo r e rro r.
W ith ne w la w s an d su b s e q u e nt pro ce d u ra l c h a n g e s , it ha s be c o m e a tre m e n d o u s
c ha lle n g e to pe rf o rm th e sta te -m a n d a te d pro c e d u re s w ith in th e c o n fi n e s of a tw o-w e e k
tim e fr a m e be tw e e n e le ctio n s . G iv e n th is co n s tra int, the E le c tio ns D e p a rt m e n t stro ng ly
urge s y o u r m u n ici p a lity to c o n s id e r ho ld in g the G e n e ra l an d R u n -O ff E le ctio n s fo u r w e e ks
ap a rt . T h e ad d itio n a l tim e fr a m e pro p o s e d w ill a llo w the D e p a rt m e nt to ad e q u a te ly pre pa re
fo r yo u r R u n -O ff E le ctio n .
T he c o nc e rn fo r vo te rs is p rim a rily re la te d to tho se w ho op t to v o te by m a il. T he sho rt
pe rio d th a t curre ntly ex ists be tw e e n e le ctio n s m a y pre ve nt v o te rs fr o m be in g ab le to
su c ce ssfully re tu rn the ir vo te d ba llo t to ou r off ic e by the state -m a n d a te d de a d lin e .
F or yo u r 20 2 3 R u n -O ff E le ction , w e m ai le d bal lot s on N o vem b e r 11h , Th e de a dl ine for
re tur n w a s N o vem b er 2 1%'a t 7 p.m . Th is pr o vi d e d ei g h t (8 ) da y s of m ai l del iv e ry.
T h is ha s be c o m e m o re o f a co n c e rn in re ce n t ye a rs be c a u se the U S P S ha s se t ne w
se rv ic e s ta n d a rd s , the re b y in c re a s in g de liv e ry tim e s . P e r info rm a tio n fr o m the U S P S :
• Lo c al 1°cl a s s m ai l c a n ta ke up to 3 da y s e a c h w ay
• O u t of sta te 1° cl a ss m ai l c a n ta k e up to 5 d a y s e a ch w a y
In the c u rre n t m o d e l, the w in d o w is ve ry s ho rt a n d m a y no t pro v id e vo te rs ad e q u a te tim e
to re ce iv e , vo te , a n d re tu rn the ir ba llo ts by 7 :0 0 p .m . on E le ctio n nig h t. W he n a ba llo t is
re c e iv e d aft e r 7 :0 0 p.m . o n E le ctio n D a y , it m u st be reje c te d by la w .
In yo u r 20 2 3 R u n -O ff E le ctio n , m o re tha n 8% or 36 8 of the 4 ,4 19 v o te rs w ho s u b m itte d a
v o te -b y -m a il ba llo t ha d the ir v o te s reje cte d du e to la te re tu rn s . E x p a n d in g th e tim e fr am e
be tw e e n e le ctio n s w ill aff o rd v ote rs s u ff ic ie nt tim e to re v ie w the ir ba llo t, c o m p le te it, an d
the n m a il it ba c k by the de a d lin e .
A s fo r ca n d id a te s , w e ha v e a lso he a rd it is diff ic u lt fo r the m to co n d u c t ou tre a c h to vo te rs
in s u c h a s h o rt tim e fr a m e , re ly in g he a v ily on the E le ctio n s D e p a rt m e n t fo r da ta tha t is
sim p ly no t re a d y fo r re le a s e to the pu b lic un til po st-e le ctio n ve rifi c a tio n p ro c e d u re s are
c o m p le te an d the ele ctio n is ce rt ifi e d .
With these factors in mind, I believe everyone benefits from providing a modest amount
of additional time between elections. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to follow the
recommendation to provide four weeks between your General and Run-Off Elections and
ask that your City Commission consider amending the election dates in time for the 2025
election cycle.
For reference, this is an excerpt from the city of Homestead's Charter. This is the model
that we would like Miami Beach, Miami, and Hialeah to adopt so all four cities are on the
same calendar:
Sec. 6.01. - Elections.
Regular election dates. A primary election shall be held in each odd-numbered year, on
the first Tuesday in October. A general election shall be held in each odd-numbered
year on the first Tuesday in November.
Below is a statute that may assist you should your City Commission opt to change the
dates. This is an option that many municipalities have exercised in the past:
• Florida Statute 101.75(2), states that "the date of the municipal election shall be set
by the municipality by ordinance."
Should your City Commission opt to pose this question to your voters, please keep in
mind that the deadline to submit your finalized ballot language to our office for the
November 5, 2024 General Election is Friday, July 26, 2024
Because each municipal charter contains different wording as to the description of Run-
Off Elections, we understand that any proposed language will likely be specific to each
municipality and prepared by its respective municipal attorney.
If you would like to have any draft language prepared by your municipal attorney(s) be
reviewed by Miami-Dade County to ensure that it addresses the concerns of the Elections
Department, your municipal attorney(s) can directly contact Michael Valdes at the Miami-
Dade County Attorney's Office (michael.valdes@miamidade.gov or 305-375-5620) for
follow-up.
Please note we analyzed the option of leaving the General Election on its currently
scheduled date and moving the Run-Off Election out two additional weeks. I have a
difficult time recommending this as a viable option. In 2025, and beyond, this places the
Run-Off Election on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving with Early Voting occurring on
Thanksgiving weekend. Other factors to consider:
• This would negatively impact voter participation during Early Voting.
• It creates the scenario again where voters may potentially return their vote-by-mail
ballot too late (if traveling).
• It w ill be d iff ic u lt to sta ff E a rly Votin g lo c a tio n s o v e r th e h o lid a y , in c lu d in g m u n ic ip a l
sta ff ne e d in g to be a v a ila b le fo r th e o p e n in g a n d c lo s in g o f E a rly Vo tin g o n th e
ho lid a y w e e k e n d .
• Lim ite d a c ce s s to pol ling pl a c e s for th e Run-Off Election equipment delivery. This
occurs the latter part of the week before the election, directly overlapping with
Thanksgiving.
• Candidates having to campaign over the holiday.
In my view, this would solve some challenges and create others. Therefore, the
October/November election schedule is best for all parties involved, allowing for seamless
election preparation, greater voter participation, and less strain on your candidates.
I know we share a common goal to ensure that your elections continue to be fair, accurate,
transparent, and accessible. This will help to ensure this moving forward.
Please let me know if I can offer additional assistance or information as you review this
recommendation. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact
me directly at 305-499-8509.
Supervisor of Elections
Miami-Dade Elections Department