By: Roy Trachtenberg
With over 50 percent of all voters opting to take advantage of early voting, this added up to 496,498 voters in Broward County. Only 25 percent of all voters actually voted on Election Day.
The Battle for Early Voting at Northwest Regional Library
The Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs racked up 34,508 early voters which exceeded the Southwest Regional Library in Pembroke Pines by 2,000 according to the Supervisor of Elections website.
Included in this number were 17,929 registered Democrats, 7,854 Republicans and 8,723 other parties. Despite the amount of Democrats, the library became a battleground between the two major parties with the police being called to the site almost every day – even up to six times in one day.
From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for two weeks it became a circus once the Republicans targeted the site. No other early voting site had as many Republicans – or as many demonstrations even before voting began. After all the yelling and screaming, what were the final results? In Broward County, Democrats won 66.68 percent compared to the Republican 31.18 percent. A glance at the voting locations such as precinct E27 in Cypress Run showed that the Democrats won 63.34 percent compared to the Republican’s 33.65 percent.
Despite the ruckus, the election volunteers in Coral Springs are to be commended for keeping the lines moving and thousands of votes processed. The lines here moved quicker than other sites with less people.
Local Results
Incumbent Commissioner Larry Vignola who ran for reelection against challenger Karen Jones won the majority of votes, however, it wasn’t because of him – he owes it to the phone calls and canvassing done by the Republicans and Democrats. Also, thanks to the students at Coral Springs Charter and the Teen Political Forum who volunteered for his campaign.
Although Vignola won his reelection by 55 percent of the vote, Jones was a close second with 44 percent. This was truly amazing for a first-timer running for office against a candidate with deep pockets and more troops at the polls than her. There are many local issues that will soon be on the table for Vignola, such as Business Park improvements. He wants Coral Springs property owners to pay for these improvements, which would only benefit the property owners and businesses in the Park. Vignola’s family own businesses there and after paying for a new city hall, police, fire improvements and buildings, why should we now pay for something that is not going to add value to our property?
The Democrats Lost the Election – Time to move on
Although Hillary won the popular vote, Trump won the Electoral College. Despite this, here in Broward County, the Democrats did win. The Constitution says that Trump is our next President and American culture is based on the peaceful transfer of power and as much as we may not like it, we must obey the law: Trump is our President.
This does not mean that Democrats will not fight for what they believe is right. Because, even though he is President, Trump will never be above the law. Richard Nixon found this out the hard way because soon, Trump will have some interesting legal cases coming up. Stay posted on more.
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