Today is Election Day in part of Palm Beach County. That’s right, voters are going to the polls on Sept. 30 in an odd-numbered year.
There is one contest: a Republican primary to nominate a candidate to run in a special election for Florida House of Representatives.
Bill Reicherter and Maria Zack are competing for the nomination to run in a December special election to fill the vacancy created by the death in July of state Rep. Joe Casello.
Who can vote?
Florida has closed primaries, so voting is only open to people who were registered Republicans in the district as of Sept. 2.
Democrat Rob Long is the only candidate for the special election from his party, so there is no primary.
When, where and how?
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office said 52 neighborhood polling places would be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on primary day.
Anyone who is in line at 7 p.m. is allowed to vote.
People must vote in their assigned polling place on Election Day.
Someone must have a current, valid photo ID with a signature. The most common are Florida driver’s licenses or state ID cards. Many other forms of ID, including passports, are accepted. If the photo ID doesn’t have a voter’s signature, the person will have to show another ID with a signature.
A voter identification card — which many people call a voter registration card — isn’t needed, and isn’t accepted as a form of identification at a polling place.
People who have requested and received mail ballots need to return them in person unless they plan to vote at a primary day polling place.
Florida has a strict deadline. Mail ballots must be back at the county elections office by 7 p.m. on primary day, Sept. 30. Postmarks don’t count.
Every election there are ballots that arrive late and can’t be counted under Florida law. In close elections there often have been enough uncounted ballots to potentially change the results.
People can return their mail ballots until 7 p.m. at the Supervisor of Elections Office headquarters near West Palm Beach or until 5 p.m. at a branch office.
Someone who requests and receives a mail ballot is not required to use it. Voters can still vote in their neighborhood polling stations on Election Day. Safeguards are in place to prevent someone from voting more than once.
The district
District 90 is essentially a Delray Beach-Boynton Beach district bordered by Hypoluxo Road in the north, Military Trail on the west (with a couple of pockets west of Military), the Delray Beach-Boca Raton border on the South and the Atlantic Ocean on the east.
Low turnout
Turnout in special primaries and elections is usually ultra-low, which means a relatively small number of voters can determine the outcome.
The House District 90 primary fits that pattern.
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office shows 31,204 active registered Republican voters in the district.
Just 361 people voted early, the Elections Office reported. In-person early voting ended Sunday.
Another 879 vote-by-mail ballots had been received in the elections office by mid-afternoon Monday.
As of Monday afternoon, turnout was 3.97%.
What’s next?
The special general election is Dec. 9.
Reicherter or Zack, Long, and no party affiliation candidate Karen Yeh will be on the ballot that day.
It’s overwhelmingly Democratic. Registered voters are about 40% Democratic, 30% Republican, 27% no party affiliation/independent with the rest in various minor parties.
In the 2024 presidential election, Democrat Kamala Harris won 54.6% of the vote in District 90 and Republican Donald Trump received 44.2%, according to an analysis by Democratic data analyst Matthew Isbell.
Information
People can check to see if they are registered to vote in the Republican Party, live in the 90th District, and check polling place locations online at votepalmbeach.gov or by calling 561-656-6200.
