R Joyce Griffin, Monroe County Supervisor of Elections, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the upcoming election.
On Sunday, election turnout records were broken in Monroe County.
Griffin said, “We broke a Sunday turnout record, and it wasn’t by very much, but it did get broken and that’s good for us. Sunday is our slowest day. We’re in the Florida Keys, and people want to be out on their boats and doing that sort of stuff. So to get that I think it was 20 votes higher than our record. I was very happy. We’re doing very well with early voting. I’m very excited over the turnout for early voting. It’s a go out there and get ‘er done, because you just don’t know what you’re going to be doing on Election Day. You don’t know what will hold you up on Election Day. On Election Day, the polls are open from 7 to 7. Early voting is open from 8:30 to 5. But like my daughter was a teacher, and she would go in early and if something happened and she had to talk with parents, or whatever, policemen never know what they’re going to be doing. Doctors, you just don’t know what you’re going to be doing on Election Day. So get ‘er done now. Also, Saturday is our last day for early voting, so we are open on Saturday from 8:30 to 5 in all five of the early voting locations. I’m very excited over this.”
Is there a trend towards early voting and mail-in voting?
Griffin said, “I’m going to say four to six years ago throughout the state, it’s become a third, a third and a third. It’s very normal for a third to go to early voting, a third to go to vote by mail, and a third, there are those people that traditionally, they just want to go to the polls. It’s Americana, but you don’t want to miss out. It is a very hot election, a very hot election. I like that everybody is turning out now, I wish I could get these type of turnout for gubernatorial. We will have a 50% turnout for gubernatorial and an 80% turnout for the presidential. I need the 30% of the people that just go to presidentials to realize the governor’s race personally can affect you more than the president’s race, really. The governor is a very important race, and I’d like to see that 50% go up, but it is what it is. It’s always been that way.”
It really is important for people to participate in the democratic process.
Griffin said, “I like the passion. Whatever side you’re on, just vote, vote for whoever your choice is, but just vote, let your voice be heard, or don’t complain afterwards. That’s it. If you’re not going to get involved then step aside and let other people decide for you. The majority rules and everybody gets a vote. It’s just a wonderful system we have. I just want everybody to participate in and get out there and vote. Don’t forget, this Saturday, we’re open for the last day, 8:30 to 5 in all five early voting locations. Don’t go to your polls. Go to your early voting locations. My three offices, Key West, Marathon and Key Largo and on Big Pine at the Big Pine Key community park there at the end of Sands Road and the Islamorada library.”
There are also a number of referendums and amendments – there’s a lot to be decided.
Griffin said, “That’s why I like to vote by mail, because you have time to study those questions. I mean, they really need to be studied. I mailed to everyone a sample ballot. But you can also go on our website and you can get your sample ballot. Now, right after the hurricane, our site was going up and down. A lot of places that were holding people’s elections. There was a lot of problems right after the hurricane and if you went to our site then and you got a notice that you were going to be moved to another site, that might be something you have to clear out of your cache because your computer may keep pulling that site up. Our site is up. You should go straight to our site and if you don’t go straight to our site, you need to clean the cache, because your computer’s still holding that other site gateway.”
Elections can be decided by just a handful of votes, so YOUR vote is critical.
Griffin said, “If you go to my website, over on the left hand side, you go down to voter history, and it’s something PDF. I’ve put little notations. If it is a tie vote, tie, we do a machine count, and then after the machine count, they call it a hand count. But what you’re doing there is looking at blank votes in that race, and you’re looking at over votes in that race to see if the voter’s intent could be made out. Then after you go through all of that, if it’s still a tie in the state of Florida, you pull it out of hat. I’ve seen that done twice in my career. I’ve seen many races come down to eight votes, one vote. It’s who we are. We’re just the community. We’re islanders. We have opinions, we want them heard, and we’re passionate. It is very important. When people tell you one vote don’t matter. No, it does. It has been pulled out of a hat, twice.”
Michael Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM said, “You have done a terrific job at keeping the integrity of the election process here in the Keys for many, many years. We want to thank you for your years of dedicating yourself to the election process. I would ask, is there any specific memory that comes to mind over your years of service that stands out in your mind as you look back upon your career?”
Griffin said, “There’s a few, whether you like President Obama or not, the first day of early voting, when I opened up the doors, there was a lot of very elderly black voters. Some of them had walkers, and it looked like they were there with their grandchildren. That was touching to me to see that they were able to vote for a black president. I love doing the homecoming elections, because we teach 900 students at Key West High to vote. My poll workers. Those are our soldiers on the field. And please, thank your poll workers. When you go in there. There’s a lot of angry people for god knows what reason. They come in before they even know the results, and they’re angry, I guess, because the TV pushes them that way, and those poll workers are there working and they’re following the laws, and they should be thanked. There are soldiers on the field, and public works. Public Works delivers all of my equipment. They’re out there if I have a problem, that public works is the unsung hero. Nobody really thinks about them, but they keep the air condition on and the toilets flushing. So a big thank you and my staff, I stand on their shoulders. They work hard. These ladies and gentlemen are incredible, and they are doing a wonderful job. I’ve got a lot of memories, a lot of very good memories, and there are some bad we deal with. A lot of angry people. I don’t know why they’re angry. We just count votes. We shouldn’t be getting death threats. But the appreciation of the people coming to vote, most of them, 75% of them, are so happy, and they’re so kind, and they’re so grateful that we’re there when you’re coming to vote. We’re just doing our jobs. We’re not going to decide. You’re going to decide. So think about that. Give us a smile and tell the poll workers that are working the early voting, thank you, and it’s been an honor. I can honestly say that men have died for my job. They have been maimed for my job. They have PTSD for my job. You go to a communist country and you can buy clothes, you can buy food. There’s restaurants, there’s no Supervisor of Elections. My office is the seat of democracy, and I hope that I have kept those soldiers and veterans proud, because I really do honor them. Heroes wear dog tags, and I never let that out of my brain, and I thank them for their job.”
Stapleford said, “Words of wisdom and heartfelt, obviously. We appreciate your dedication and leadership, because the team you talk about has certainly followed your lead all the way through your many years of service, keeping the supervisor of elections and the integrity of our elections at the utmost. We certainly appreciate that dedication.”
Griffin said, “I’m just very appreciative to be on and thank you for having me, and thank you for doing election night coverage for us and being there as the backup so people can hear what’s going on and know what’s going on. As we get totals, we fax these totals over to the government center there, and then you all can get them and talk about them. So if something should happen again in this crazy year, to our website, oh dear goodness pray that we don’t. But if it does, the backup is the radio and the television. Don’t forget, the county television will be broadcasting too. So thank you very much for helping my voters know what’s going on, and our first results should be right out around seven, because you will get all of the early voting, and I’m going to say 90% of the absentees at that time. So, very exciting, very exciting and after Election Day, there will be no more politics on the television.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keyselections.org/