Two Palm Beach County Polling Places Are Closed for Election Day Because of Flooding - Here Is Where Those Voters Go Instead
Casa Rio in Riviera Beach and Ironhorse in West Palm Beach will not open Tuesday. The elections office has redirected both precincts, notified the affected voters by email and text, and is bracing for another surge after early voting topped 40 percent.
Two Palm Beach County polling places will not open on Election Day, and the voters assigned to them need a different address on Tuesday. Flooding after days of rain forced the closure of the Casa Rio Clubhouse in Riviera Beach and Ironhorse Country Club in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post reported on Monday, in a late change confirmed by the Supervisor of Elections office on Nov. 2.
Voters assigned to Casa Rio will instead cast their ballots at Riviera Beach Preparatory and Achievement Academy, at 7071 Garden Road. Voters assigned to Ironhorse will vote at the North County Senior Center, at 5217 Northlake Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens. Impacted voters were notified by email and text, according to Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link's office, which also emailed all remaining voters on Nov. 2 reminding them to check their precinct locations before Tuesday. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and voters in line at their assigned location by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
The closures land at the end of an early-voting period Link said may be a county record. Unofficial turnout reached 375,078 through Nov. 1 - more than 40 percent of registered voters - including 222,108 who voted early in person, about 91,000 more than in the 2022 midterms, and about 152,000 who voted by mail. Nearly 70,000 people voted at early sites over the final weekend despite heavy rain and scattered flooding, the Post reported.
"This could very well be an all-time record for early voting," Link said, in remarks reported by the Post. The figures show turnout by party, not how anyone voted: Democrats led in-person early voting 88,260 to 77,525, with another 49,184 early ballots from voters with no party affiliation, while Republicans have historically turned out in far greater numbers on Election Day itself - by more than 2-to-1 four years ago, the Post noted.
