Editorial: The line to vote in Florida stretches here, there and everywhere. A victory for democracy

Before dawn broke on Monday morning, long lines of calm and committed voters snaked around libraries and community centers across South Florida for the first day of early voting.

It was dark. It was raining. And no one was complaining.

What an impressive sight. What an impressive turnout. What a wonderful description from election supervisors: “Exceeded expectations.”

There was no flag waving, no horn honking, no last-minute robocalls or mailbox screamers.

Just a sizable line of largely silent voters, young and old, wearing face masks and standing 6 feet apart.

Though early voting lasts for two weeks in most places, you could sense the pent-up energy people have to vote in this historic election, which is taking place amid a global pandemic, a national recession and a public awakening about social justice.

A record number of Floridians have already returned mail-in ballots — more than 2 million so far — but it’s clear many more want to make their mark in person.

For some, it’s because they don’t trust the mail. For others, it’s because this is how they have always done it. For there is something ennobling about standing in line to vote with your fellow Americans, waiting your turn to exercise your part in this great democracy.

At 7 a.m., Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky tweeted that the line outside her city’s amphitheater was the longest she has ever witnessed. At the Palm Beach County library branch in Lantana, Sun Sentinel reporter Skylar Swisher found people in line at 5 a.m. At the African American library in Fort Lauderdale, reporter Brittany Wallman found the line forming at 5:30 a.m. In Wilton Manors, reporter Anthony Man saw more than 100 people in line at 7 a.m.

Similar scenes were reported across the state.

In suburban Orlando, some Democrats who had already voted offered to hold places in line for those who had not. They wore bright yellow “Good Trouble” T-shirts — the phrase for civil disobedience popularized by the late Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis.

Long lines at early voting sites in South Florida have an ugly history.

In 2012, when President Barack Obama was running for reelection, Republican lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott cut back early voting days and hours. The result was historically long lines in the obvious hope that many older Democrats would give up and go home.

Desiline Victor, a 102-year-old Haitian American immigrant, stood in line for six hours at a North Miami early voting site that year. She could not get language assistance as federal law requires and was told to come back later — a denial of her civil rights. “We have to fix that,” President Obama said on election night.

Yet here we are, eight years later, and people are still standing in lines at early voting sites in Florida.

In Broward County on Monday, some lines lasted one to two hours, even though Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci had predicted that during early voting, there would only be lines on the Sunday before Election Day.

“We’ve had a larger turnout than we thought,” he said at midday.

A good many people also were dropping their mail-in ballots in collection boxes at early voting sites. But sadly, the state stirred disruption and uncertainty with a last-minute memo that told counties that secure drop boxes must be staffed by paid elections workers or police around the clock, and that video surveillance of drop boxes is insufficient.

However, it appears that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief elections officer, Laurel Lee, went beyond what state law says.

A provision in a major 2019 elections bill — the same law that requires ex-felons to pay all costs before they can vote — says drop boxes can be placed at any early voting site, and that the sites must be staffed during early voting hours by an employee or police officer. The level of security is “within the discretion of the supervisor,” elections law attorney Ron Labasky told the News Service of Florida.

Labasky said “secure” is not defined is not defined in state law and the memo is not binding on his clients, the 67 county election supervisors.

The good news is, time remains for early voting across South Florida and much of the rest of the state.

Vote with your feet.

Those lines tell a story of democracy in action in Florida.

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