PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – The passing of longtime congressman Alcee Hastings in April opened a race to fill his seat in Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
That includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and early voting sites in both counties are open.
The special election is the first since the state passed a new, controversial election law under the guise of improving election security.
Now, in order to vote by mail, the new law requires either a Florida Driver’s License number, a state ID number or the last four digits of a Social Security number.
Broward Elections Supervisor Joe Scott said he’s just obeying the new law, even if he doesn’t agree with it.
“I’m certainly not in favor of the new obstacles that are being put between the voter and the ballot box, but this is the law of the land,” Scott said.
He is now sending out more than 73,000 letters to Broward voters, warning them that their voter information is incomplete.
So far, 11 Democrats and two Republicans are running for the seat.
In the heavily Democratic district, one of those 11 candidates will likely be the winner.
Three of those 11 candidates, State Rep. Bobby DuBose, State Rep. Omari Hardy and State Sen. Perry Thurston, joined This Week in South Florida hosts Glenna Milberg and Michael Putney to discuss the race, and their conversation can be seen at the top of this page, as well as a report on early voting by Local 10 News’ Trent Kelly.