Republican voters go to the polls Tuesday in GOP primaries to decide who their party’s candidates will be in special elections to fill vacancies in Florida Senate and House seats within Brevard County.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Who is running in the Senate District 19 race?
The Republican candidates in the April 1 primary are Marcie Adkins, Mark Lightner III, Debbie Mayfield and Tim Thomas. The primary winner will face Democrat Vance Ahrens in a June 10 general election.
This election is for the seat that had been held by Republican Randy Fine. He was elected to the seat in November, but resigned, effective Monday, as he seeks to fill a vacant seat in Congress, in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, a six-county area that includes Daytona Beach. That congressional election is Tuesday.
Mayfield held the Senate District 19 seat until November, when she was forced out by term limits. But her brief break in service makes her eligible to run again, according to the Florida Supreme Court.
Florida Senate District 19 includes Central and South Brevard County.
The election winner will serve the remainder of Fine’s four-year term, which runs until November 2028. Florida Senate members have a salary of $29,697 a year.
Who is running in the House District 32 race?
The Republican candidates in the April 1 primary are Terry Cronin Jr., Brian Hodgers and Bob White. The primary winner will face Democrat Juan Hinojosa in the June 10 general election.
This is the election for the seat now held by Republican Debbie Mayfield. She was elected to the seat in November, but is resigning, effective June 9, as she seeks to return to her old Florida Senate District 19 seat.
House District 32 includes parts of Central Brevard County.
The election winner will serve the remainder of Mayfield’s two-year term, which runs until November 2026. Florida House members have a salary of $29,697 a year.
Can any registered voter vote in this election?
No. Florida is a “closed-primary” state. So only registered Republican voters who live in Senate District 19 or House District 32 can vote.
Is it too late to register to vote in the primary?
Yes. The “book-closing” deadline to register to vote for the primary election was March 3.
The deadline to register for the June 10 general election is May 12.
How many people are eligible to vote in these primary elections?
As of the registration deadline, there were a total of 179,852 registered Republican voters in Senate District 19. All of House District 32 is contained within Senate District 19, so 64,554 Republicans would be able to vote in both elections.
How has turnout been during early voting?
As expected, it has been light during ongoing vote-by mail balloting and the eight days of in-person early voting that ended Saturday, because this is a special election, held outside of the normal voting cycle.
As of late Monday morning, 17,375 Republicans have cast votes, representing 9.66% of eligible voters.
Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic said turnout is difficult to predict for an election like this, “but I would suspect we’ll see anywhere from 12% to 15% turnout for the special primary election,” when votes cast on primary day are included.
How many polling place will there be on primary day?
There will be 79 primary day polling locations, handling a total of 147 precincts, with some polling locations handling two or more precincts. They will be staffed by a total of 708 primary day poll workers.
What should voters be aware of?
Bobanic said voters need to be aware that only registered Republicans who live in Senate District 19 or House District 32 will have races to vote on in this election.
For those who plan to vote on Election Day, it is important to verify their polling place on VoteBrevard.gov, as there have been some location changes. Voters can vote only in their designated polling place.
Voters need to have a valid, current photo and signature identification with them to check-in.
For mail ballot voters, they need to remember that all voted ballots need to be in the Supervisor of Elections Office by 7 p.m. Tuesday to be counted. Secure ballot intake stations to drop off vote-by-mail ballots are available for voted mail ballots on Election Day only at the four administrative offices.
These are the office locations:
Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard Republican voters go to polls in special elections to fill Senate, House seats
Reporting by Dave Berman, Florida Today / Florida Today
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