ELECTION DAY - VOTE

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

V O T E

For the past two weeks, many of you have participated in our democracy by mailing in your Absentee Ballots or by going to the polls during Early Voting.  Today is your last chance to exercise your right to VOTE.

Some STATS:

There are 1,286,905 registered voters in Miami-Dade County.  Voter turnout is expected to be under 20%.

The latest reported numbers of people that have already cast their vote: 83,787 absentee ballots have been returned to the Elections Department of the 213,202 absentee ballots that were mailed. 

Over a period of 14 days of Early Voting: 29,194 additional voters pulled the lever at the polls. 

That means a total of 112,981 people have already voted.

Compared to 2012's primary election, the absentee ballots and early voting numbers are about the same.  In 2012, the totals were about 105,000.  In 2012, on election day, only 93,000 additional voters showed up to vote. 

By seven pm tonight, or shortly thereafter, we could have eight new Judges in Miami-Dade County.  Seven elections will be decided today; only the County Court race between Incumbent Judge Jacqueline Schwartz and her opponents, Rachel Dooley and Frank Bocanegra, could result in a runoff.  A runoff would take place if none of the three candidates garners a majority of the vote; and the runoff would happen on the November general election ballot.

Stay tuned for our live-blogging of the election results.  We'll leave it to Rumpole to decide whether he wants to take down the screening on the Comments section for the night.

Good luck to all the candidates.


CIRCUIT COURT

GROUP 16 (Leon Firtel retiring)

Thomas Cobitz v. Stephen Millan

GROUP 26

Judge Rodney Smith v. Christian Carrazana


GROUP 27 (Ron Dresnick retiring)

Mary Gomez v. Alberto Milian


GROUP 58 (Marc Schumacher retiring)

Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts v. Martin Zilber


GROUP 67

Judge Fleur Lobree v. Mavel Ruiz


GROUP 70 (Sandy Karlan retiring)

Veronica Diaz v. Renier Diaz de la Portilla


COUNTY COURT

GROUP 19

Judge Jacqueline Schwartz v. Rachel Dooley v. Frank Bocanegra


GROUP 36

Judge Nuria Saenz v. Victoria Ferrer


CAPTAIN OUT .....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com


Update: Thank you El Capitan for a great post. Coming soon (after the election results, breakdowns and analysis: "FACDL LISTSERV: A Right to Privacy? Anyone see a penumbra?"

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

VOTE

It's been called the "greatest play in baseball" and voted as one of the top 100 moments in baseball history. It happened more than 34 years ago, on April 25, 1976, and it involved Rick Monday of the Chicago Cubs. And watching it may remind you why it's so very important to take advantage of the freedoms we all have and of our right to chose our elected officials in a free and democratic way.

Hundreds of thousands of young men and women have given their lives in defense of our country, your freedom, and everyone's right to vote. Last week, Rumpole ran a story on the 70th anniversary of one of Churchill's "finest" moments and it too reminded us how important it is to remember the sacrifices that others have made, for us and our freedom.

If you do nothing else on Tuesday, take a few minutes out of your busy lives, and go down to your local polling place and VOTE.

And Judges, take a line from Judge Lenny Glick's book on Election Day, and let your jury out a few minutes early so they can exercise their rights and vote.

Good luck to all of the candidates.

CAPTAIN OUT .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote should not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

On August 26, 1920, 88 years ago today, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution became law.

Today, if we are lucky, three in ten will go to the polls and cast a vote. That, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of American men and women have given their lives in the defense of freedom and so that you and I could go to the polls and vote.

In Australia, 95% of eligible voters cast a ballot. In Malta it's 94%, Austria 92%, Belgium 91%, Italy 90%, Luxembourg 90%, and eight more countries including Germany and the Czech Republic vote at levels of 85% or higher. But in the United States, we are proud when we get 56% to the polls for a presidential election.

If you do nothing else today, go to the polls and Vote.

The contested judicial elections are:

COUNTY COURT:

Group 42:
Lisa Lesperance vs. Norma Lindsey (I)

CIRCUIT COURT:

Group 11:
Jorge Cueto vs. Josie Perez Velis

Group 18:
Migna Sanchez-Llorens vs. Manny Segarra

Group 19:
Yvonne Colodny vs. Patricia Kopco vs. Stephen Millan

Group 38:
Mario Garcia vs. Stacy Glick

Group 50:
Ricardo Corona vs. Abby Cynamon

Group 51:
Marcia Caballero vs. Douglas Chumbley (I)

Group 55:
Jeri Beth Cohen (I) vs. Abbie Cuellar

Group 57:

Bernard Shapiro (I) vs. Denise Scanziani

We look forward to the returns later tonight and to Rumpole's live blogging from - the Pepsi Center?

CAPTAIN OUT ..........