Flooding Moves Two Palm Beach County Polling Places for Election Day, as Turnout Passes 375,000 Before a Single Tuesday Vote
Voters assigned to the Casa Rio Clubhouse in Riviera Beach and to Ironhorse Country Club in West Palm Beach will vote somewhere else on Tuesday — the elections office moved both sites after days of rain. Everyone else votes at their assigned precinct, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Two Palm Beach County polling places will not open on Election Day, and the voters assigned to them have a new address for Tuesday. The Supervisor of Elections office confirmed Monday that flooding forced the closure of the Casa Rio Clubhouse in Riviera Beach and of Ironhorse Country Club in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post reported. Voters assigned to Casa Rio will instead vote at Riviera Beach Preparatory and Achievement Academy at 7071 Garden Road, and voters assigned to Ironhorse will vote at the North County Senior Center at 5217 Northlake Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens. The elections office said impacted voters were notified by email and text.
The moves came in an email reminder the elections office sent Monday telling voters who have not yet cast a ballot to check their precinct locations — advice that now matters more than usual. On Election Day, Palm Beach County voters must vote at the polling place assigned to their precinct; polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and anyone in line at their assigned location by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote, according to the Supervisor of Elections. A vote-by-mail ballot cannot be dropped off at an Election Day polling place; it must reach the elections Main Office by 7 p.m. Tuesday, or a branch office by 5 p.m., to be counted.
The county goes into Tuesday with a turnout figure its elections chief says may be unprecedented. Unofficial turnout reached 375,078 through the close of early voting on Nov. 1 — more than 40 percent of registered voters — with 222,108 voting early in person and about 152,000 by mail, the Post reported. “This could very well be an all-time record for early voting,” Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link said. Democrats led the in-person early vote 88,260 to 77,525, with 49,184 ballots from voters with no party affiliation, and led mail voting 79,885 to 38,475 — figures that show turnout by party, not how anyone voted. Republicans, the Post noted, have historically turned out in far greater numbers on Election Day itself, outnumbering Democrats at the polls by more than 2 to 1 four years ago.
For voters heading out Tuesday, the weather has eased from the weekend's worst: West Palm Beach's live feed on Monday evening put Tuesday's precipitation chance at 31 percent, down sharply from Monday's deluge, though standing water from the weekend remains on roads across the county.
