WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Voters are busy casting their ballots across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast as early voting continues for the Nov. 8 election.
Wendy Sartory Link, Palm Beach County's supervisor of elections, said Friday that more than 150,000 voters have returned mail ballots and more than 34,000 voters have voted early. Currently, more than 18% of registered voters in Palm Beach County have already voted in this election.
There's a push by the federal, state and local levels to protect voters and election workers at polling sites.
The FBI said it will be monitoring for cases of voter intimidation around the country.
More than 280,000 voters have already cast their ballots by mail, absentee or early voting across WPTV's five-county viewing area.
Residents in Okeechobee County will start early voting on Saturday.
A group of pastors from across Florida held a virtual meeting Friday to discuss election security and the possibility of voter intimidation. It is something that they said is a serious threat to a free and fair election.
"During this election cycle, it can be quite anxious for citizens who vote," Pastor Tracey Stallworth of Tallahassee said. "It can be quite nerve-wracking because in their mind they're wondering if their vote will be denounced or suppressed, especially those who are Black and brown."
There have been no reports of voter intimidation in Florida.
Sartory Link said Friday that they are not anticipating any issues at polling locations in Palm Beach County. However, if there are issues, poll workers are instructed to call 911.
"This year, from what we have seen, because of the uptick in simply the attention that has been placed on the Jan. 6 investigation, people are perhaps more concerned about peacefully being able to vote," former federal prosecutor David Weinstein said. "There have been incidents throughout the country already with armed people at polling places."
One of those incidents was in Arizona where armed people showed up at ballot drop boxes, alarming local and federal law enforcement.
However, a federal judge in Arizona on Friday declined to bar groups from monitoring drop boxes, saying it would violate their constitutional rights.
"The citizens in my county, and I'm pretty sure the citizens elsewhere in the state of Florida, they want to go to a place where it's safe, not being intimidated or harassed by a special police," Stallworth said. "It is their civic duty, it is a right to be able to cast a vote."
Voters who notice any form of illegal activity are urged to contact the FBI.
Federal election laws prohibit the following:
- Threatening violence against election officials or staff
- Intimidating or bribing voters
- Buying and selling votes
- Impersonating voters
- Altering vote tallies
- Stuffing ballot boxes
- Marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input
To report allegations of election fraud and other election abuses in South Florida, contact FBI Miami at 754-703-2000.
However, anyone in imminent, or potentially imminent danger, should immediately call 911 before contacting federal authorities.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that a man was arrested after he was accused of threatening election workers at a polling center in Sunrise, Florida, in August.
