Hello, and welcome to the inaugural edition of the Civic Culture newsletter.
This newsletter is intended to be a semi-regular outlet for my musings on and independent research about law, policy, local government, and civic engagement, especially as it affects my local community here in Miami.
Newsletter #1 is focused on getting ready for Election(s) 2020. Take a break from the Presidential Primary drama and make sure you understand the other important races and referenda coming before Miami voters in 2020.
Thanks for subscribing! I welcome your feedback. And if you find this newsletter helpful, please take a moment to share it with others who might find it useful, too.
—Leah
Miami-Dade Election(s) in 2020: A Study Guide
First of all, here are a few of the important dates you should know. Put them in your calendar.
February 18: Registration deadline to participate in Presidential Primary Election. If you did not register to vote or change your registration to select a party affiliation, you cannot participate in the 2020 Presidential Preference Primary.
March 17: Election Day for Presidential Preference Primary Election*
July 4: Registration deadline for Primary Election
August 18: Election Day for Primary Election
October 5: Registration deadline for General Election
November 3: Election Day for General Election
*Since Florida is a closed primary state, only those registered as Republicans or Democrats as of the registration deadline of February 18 may participate in the Presidential Preference Primary.
What state, county, and municipal races, referenda, or other issues can you expect to see on your ballots in 2020?
All Floridians will vote on several proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution in the November 3, 2020 General Election. As of this newsletter’s publication, there are four proposed amendments that have been cleared for the 2020 ballot:
Amendment 1: An amendment reaffirming (since this is already federal and state law) that only U.S. citizens who are 18 or older may vote in Florida.
Amendment 2: An amendment raising the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour effective September 2021, increasing incrementally to $15.00 per hour by September 2026.
Amendment 3: An amendment that would establish an open primary system. An open primary would permit non-party affiliated voters to cast ballots in primary elections for the Florida legislature, governor, and cabinet, which are all partisan races. (This Amendment would not apply to federal races for Congress or President).
Amendment 4: An amendment that would make it more difficult to enact future state constitutional amendments by requiring all proposed amendments or revisions to be approved by the voters in two elections instead of one in order to take effect.
You can read more details about these referenda at the Florida Division of Elections website.
All Miami-Dade County residents will vote in Countywide races for County Mayor, County Clerk, Property Appraiser, and County Court Judges. Many will also vote in district races for County Commission and School Board.
All Miami-Dade residents will vote in the races for Mayor, County Clerk, Property Appraiser, and County Court Judges (unless any of those candidates run unopposed, which is likely in a few races). I recently learned, to my surprise, that this election is actually scheduled to take place in the August 18 Primary Election. Only if the August primary fails to produce a winner by majority vote will the election proceed to the November 3 General Election. For especially competitive races like the County Mayoral election, this is an important detail to note, especially since so many residents leave Miami for the summer. Don’t forget to vote in August!
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners is composed of 13 individuals representing single-member districts which each encompass a discrete geographical area of the county. If you live in Miami-Dade County Commission Districts 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, or 13, you will be voting in a race for your district’s Commissioner. Due to term limits enacted by voters in 2012, only Districts 5 and 11 have incumbents running for re-election. This is significant: it means that no matter the outcome in these races, nearly half of the current members of County Commission could change in 2020. Not sure what district you live in? You can look it up here.
Like the County, the Miami-Dade County School Board, which oversees the nation’s 5th largest public school system, is divided into 9 single-member districts. You will be voting in a race for your School Board member if you live in School Board Districts 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9. Only Districts 1 and 7 have incumbents, so we will have at least 3 new School Board members in 2020. That’s 1/3 of the School Board!
Finally, it’s possible there could be county referenda on this ballot. The deadline to submit charter amendments or other referenda to the Elections Department for the August election is May 29 but, thus far, I haven’t found any County ballot initiatives lined up for this ballot in a legislative search.
By the way, you can find out a lot more about the each of the County races than I’ve explained here, including campaign finance information, by clicking here.
To make things more confusing, municipalities have the authority to establish their own election schedules. If you live in a municipality, read on.
Municipal elections routinely take place throughout the year, and 2020 is no different.
In January, there were elections in Biscayne Park and Florida City.
In February, there were elections in South Miami and Indian Creek.
In March, residents of Surfside have an election.
In April, residents of Bay Harbor Islands and West Miami have elections. A runoff for Bay Harbor Islands could take place in May.
In August, residents of Key Biscayne and Miami Gardens have elections. This is the same day that voters will cast votes in the Miami-Dade County Primary race.
In November, residents of Aventura, Bal Harbour, Biscayne Park, Cutler Bay, Doral, El Portal, Key Biscayne, Medley, Miami Gardens , Miami Lakes, North Bay Village, Opa-locka, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, and Sunny Isles Beach. Some of these elections could involve runoffs that take place in December.
So, to recap: if you live in Miami-Dade County, you should know that there will be an election somewhere every month in 2020 except for June and July. Whoa! 🤯
With the Presidential Primary in Florida quickly approaching, now is a great time to get your research started on all of the other important elections that affect your day-to-day life. Informed voting in local elections, which often have much lower turnout rates, can have a huge impact.
If you have any questions or thoughts, reply to this message or leave a comment on the web version of this newsletter. Thanks for reading!
—Leah
A musical footnote…
For my fellow music nerds, fans of my radio show, or anyone else who could just use a break from the news, I’ll close my newsletters with something musical.
As a fan of electronic music, I always enjoy learning about artists’ production processes and the instrumentation they choose. Check out this interview with musician and composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith at her home studio, where she shows you how she uses old school modular synthesizers (like the Buchla 100) to create her compositions.