Latonia Nelson, a 51-year-old teacher living in Miami Gardens, voted at the North Dade Regional Library on Monday. As an African-American woman, she knew the presidential candidate she marked on her ballot isn’t the most popular in her community.
The last time Nelson was at the polls, she voted for Barack Obama for the second time in 2012.
This year, Nelson cast her ballot for former President Donald Trump.
“If they’re Black, they’re voting Democrat…Not this time,” Nelson said. “I feel like I woke up.”
Nelson was one of thousands in Miami-Dade County to cast their ballots on the first day of early in-person voting for the 2024 general election in South Florida. In addition to choosing a president, voters will be able to decide on constitutional amendments to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults and end Florida’s six-week abortion ban. Miami-Dade County will also be choosing the first sheriff in 60 years.
The Miami-Dade County Elections Department told the Miami Herald that more than 144,000 voters had already cast their ballots as of 2 p.m. on Monday. Of that number, almost 124,000 voted by mail and about 20,000 went to the polls. Early in-person voting continues from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day until Nov. 3; Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Caplin News interviewed voters about their choices for president. Trump is expected to win Florida and its 30 Electoral College votes this year. Once a swing state, Florida is not among the seven battleground states in this election cycle.
Nicole Delgado, 22, voted for the first time at the John F. Kennedy Library. Delgado, who is Hispanic and lives in Hialeah, voted for Vice President Kamala Harris because she believes their political views align, particularly on abortion.
““I liked how she was standing up for women that had [their] rights taken away by the abortion ban,” Delgado said. “She’s there all the way, not like Trump.”
Adela Pique, who is 67 and a Hispanic resident of Hialeah, voted for Trump the last two times he ran for president and again on Monday.
Pique said she likes Trump’s policies on immigration and is concerned about what potentially eight more years under a Democratic administration would mean for the United States.
“Every time the Democratic Party takes the reins of this country, the borders always open. When it’s not by air, it’s by sea,” Pique said in Spanish.
Della Logan is 70 years old and a Black resident of Miami Gardens. Logan, who is retired, voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020. Logan voted for Harris on Monday at the North Dade Regional Library.
Logan, who said she votes in every election, supports Harris’ economic policies.
“It’s more to me for an average person, a working person…It’s for everybody,” Logan said.
Maria Llorens, a 69-year-old Hispanic retiree, said she voted for Trump — for the third time.
Llorens, who went to the John F. Kennedy Library to vote, said she liked life under the Trump administration.
“These people [Biden and Harris] have been here for four years and they haven’t done anything and now the lady who is going to run as a candidate has not done anything,” Llorens said in Spanish.
“Are we going to wait four more years for the country to finish being destroyed?” she asked.
For 40-year-old Willie Rosesong, a scientist living in Miami Gardens, it was easy to make his decision. Rosesong voted Democrat in the last two elections and was set on voting for Harris.
Abortion was the most important issue for Rosesong.
“It’s setting us backward in time,” Rosesong said. “I feel like as a society, it’s not the way people feel and in the end it’s a woman’s right. It’s not a man’s right.”
Lisis Canino, 52, is a Cuban-American lawyer who lives in Hialeah, voted for Trump at John F. Kennedy Library. Canino, who’s a Republican, said she always votes for Trump.
“[I’m] really happy that I was able to vote,” Canino said.
Hunter Smith of Doral, who voted for Biden in 2020, voted for Harris this time around.
“She puts more focus on the environment, more focus on the middle class, [will] provide them opportunities that maybe other administrations wouldn’t,” Smith said.
Nelsida Alvarenga, who is a 60-year-old paralegal and lives in Tamiami, cast her ballot for Trump at the MIami-Dade County Elections Department in Doral.
“I’m for a better economy, better immigration, close borders, we need safety,” Alvarenga said.
Sheila Boyd, 74, is a retiree who lives in Miami Lakes, said she voted Democrat in 2016 and 2020 and hearing what Trump has had to say during the campaign helped her side with Harris.
“[Trump] is a bully and what they’re projecting for ‘Project 2025” is no good,’ Boyd said, referring to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s proposals for running the government. Trump has disavowed the plan.
“Our lives depend on this,” Boyd said. “I’m not trying to go back to the 60s.”