Voting in Central Florida: Osceola County Report

Kissimmee, Florida -- Unlike past elections in Florida, voting in the Republican Presidential Primary yesterday went smoothly in Kissimmee. Nestled just south of Orlando in Osceola County and home to most of the Walt Disney World theme parks, this combination cattle and resort town saw a steady stream of voters all day during the 7 o'clock am to 7 o'clock pm polling hours. While both parties voted, the Democratic vote was not run for delegates, leaving the Republican side the only as the only side where voting counted for nomination purposes.

In the 12^th precinct the vote was steady all day, but remarkably heavier during the after work hours. This particular polling place is a recreation center for a modular home park, but serves a larger surrounding area than just the mobile homes around it. Interestingly, the lunch hour was the slowest time of the day where only a handful of voters came in to cast their ballots. The small parking lot remained full most of the day, causing voters to park along the side of the street. Some voters utilized Florida's early voting ability, which ran from January 14to January 26. However, an estimated 600 voters came to the 12^th precinct polling place on Tuesday.

Voting in Osceola County is done on paper ballots scanned into a reader. Unlike the "Hanging Chad" voting system of 2000, the scanning system requires the voter to fill in an oval next to the candidate's name, very much like taking a standardized test. There is also a touch screen voting machine at each precinct for those who are unable for one reason or another to use the standard scanning voting machine.

Unusual also in Florida voting is the law that prohibits campaigning at the polling venue. All campaign workers must stay back several hundred feet from the door of the polling place. This eliminates the gaggle of people you used to have to wade through to get to the door, and keeps litter at a minimum since there are no campaign flyers to throw away. Since the campaign workers have to be so far away from the voters, in many cases they are separated from the voter's cars by a good distance, it is un productive for them to try to wage a last minute campaign as the voters walk to the door. While it is nice not to be harassed on the way to the ballot box, it takes away a lot of the excitement of Election Day.

Florida law also prohibits non voters and non poll workers from entering the polling place, but while talking with a few of the workers after the polls closed I found that activity in other polling areas mirrored the 12^th precinct. The other polls were located in places as diverse as the voters themselves; in churches, fire houses, private schools and libraries. All polls in Osceola County ran smoothly.