The presidential election so far has more twists and turns than a SeaWorld roller coaster.
But before we can get to November, we’ve got a state election coming up in 16 days, Florida. In fact, voting in some counties starts MONDAY!
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Hey guys, it’s Christie Zizo back with more Results 2024 election news.
Forget about the Biden-Harris switcheroo. Let’s keep the focus on what matters here at home.
The big thing to focus on right now down here is the Florida Statewide Primary — that’s the name of the election, but it’s way more than that, and everyone should be voting in this election if they are eligible.
Here are some of the important races open to ALL VOTERS on Tuesday, Aug. 20:
- Universal primaries. These are races where candidates from only one political party decided to run. The race is now open to all voters, regardless of party. They include:
- Florida Senate District 15 (part of Orange County)
- Florida House District 41 (part of Orange County)
- Florida House District 44 (part of Orange County)
- Ninth-Judicial Circuit Public Defender (Orange and Osceola counties)
- County commission races in Flagler, Marion, Polk and Sumter counties
- Some constitutional officer races, like the Marion County sheriff or the Sumter County schools superintendent
- County commission races in Orange County
- Volusia County Council Chair
- School board races in all counties
- Circuit judge races
- County judge races
- City government races and ballot referendums
Orange and Osceola voters, early voting starts Monday and runs through Sunday, Aug. 18.
Lake voters, early voting starts Thursday and runs through Saturday, Aug. 17.
Brevard, Flagler, Marion, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia voters, early voting starts Saturday, Aug. 10 and runs through Saturday, Aug. 17.
Everything you need to know about early voting — locations, hours, sample ballots and more can be found HERE.
We’re also working on getting ballot guides up for every county, listing candidates and how to find information about them. Orange County is HERE. Marion County is HERE.
Need more help? We are finding candidate guides and putting them HERE.
Have questions? Head to our Results Help Desk or just email me at czizo@wkmg.com.
Getting the vote right
Last week, several counties held logic and accuracy tests to make sure their ballot tabulation machines were working before the Aug. 20 election. It’s one of many things Florida election offices are required to do to make sure their elections system is accurate in counting and verifying ballots.
In a post-2020 election world where some political leaders are still telling voters that there is widespread voter fraud, knowing how your vote is counted is more important than ever. In Florida, security, accuracy and transparency are the law, and our county elections supervisors take this duty very seriously.
I’ve been speaking to many of our county elections supervisors about this for years. And when Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays took my phone call last week to get into the nitty gritty of ballot counting, he was once again happy to oblige.
But it’s a little different in every county.
So, check this story out to see how the ballots are counted and verified on election day where you live. And if you are voting by mail, we have details HERE on how the counties verify those ballots.
The kids are all right. We just need to get them to vote
Earlier this year, I taught a session on election reporting for high school students at the Florida Scholastic Press Association. And what it showed me is that young people can actually be quite passionate and interested in what is going on in the world.
There’s a conventional wisdom among politicos that young people don’t vote, so why should we have to make campaign promises to them? But that is changing. Gen Z is more focused on how government affects their lives than ever before. There are lots of reasons for this, some of them tragic (mass shootings in schools, for instance).
So what do young voters want? What will get them to the polls? Kendal Asbury, one of News 6′s summer interns, took this topic head-on. And what she found was that young voters really care about a lot of the same issues as older voters. And now they are harnessing their potential power to get it. Check out this great story HERE.
Latest Results 2024 stories
Lots of local political coverage ramping up. Here are the stories we’ve done in the last couple of weeks.
- Why a Florida town has been without a town council for seven months: Reporter Emily McLeod heads to Reddick in Marion County where last year the entire town council quit because of a new Florida public disclosure law. Now some of those same councilmen are running in a special election this month. And that public disclosure law caused similar resignations in towns and cities across Florida. Officials say the requirements are too onerous for people who are not getting much compensation to serve their cities. And cities are having trouble filling the vacancies. I explain what happened, and the latest on the lawsuit that was filed by city officials HERE.
- Orange County unanimously OKs rural boundary amendment: A charter amendment heading to the November ballot in Orange County could make it harder to approve developments in certain parts of the county. Why so many residents wanted this.
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