Florida News that impacts you – August 19th
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Led by record votes by mail, Florida’s turnout for Tuesday’s Primary Elections featured the highest turnout for the August primaries, at over 28%, since the August 2002 elections. Turnout was 24% for the August primaries in 2016 and 27% in 2018.
- Key races in South Florida featured wins for Wendy Sartory Link for Supervisor of Elections, and Gregory Tony for Broward Sheriff. Both were appointed by Governor DeSantis after their predecessors were removed from office. The Democrat’s Broward Supervisor of Election’s race remains to close call as Joe Scott leads Chad Klitzman by .2% or about 600 votes. Scott currently is leading. In the Miami Dade Mayoral race Commissioners Steve Bovo and Daniella Levine Cava are headed for a runoff election.
- The case involving the restoration of felon voting rights in Florida was taken up by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. A hearing before the full court will decide whether Florida’s felons will have to pay financial restitution prior to regaining voting rights.
- With just over 3,800 COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday, Florida’s weekly trend continued to improve. Daily average cases are now pacing the lowest since June 26th. Florida’s overall positivity rate continued to drop as well – falling below 8% on Tuesday. The positivity rate has been below the CDC’s target rate of 10% every day in August.