WEEKLY WRAP: Early voting begins in Florida this week. Here's what you need to know
Your curated summary of the top news from the previous week, plus a look ahead to coming events. And more.
The Week Ahead
In Florida, early voting is easy—and safe
The ability to vote before Election Day increases ballot access and encourages voter turnout by making it easier for registered voters to find time to make their way to the polls.
Even easier is mail-in-voting, and in Florida you can do either, as well as show up on primary Election Day, August 18. If you’ve not already requested a mail-in ballot, it may be too late for the primary election, but there is still time to get one for the general election in November.
Early voting for the Florida primary election begins this week. The state mandates that every county open its polling places starting on Saturday, August 8. However, individual counties may decide to extend voting dates and begin earlier in the week. Poll locations vary from county to county.
You’ll want to check your local Supervisor of Elections Office for up-to-date information on early voting days, hours, and poll locations. It’s also where you can request a general election mail-in ballot. Here’s where you can find yours:
When you land on the website, go to the County List, find where you live, then click on the link to your county. That will take you to your local Supervisor of Elections website. I tested several, and they worked, but be aware that every county has its own format, so you may have to poke around a little bit to find a link to information for your local Early Voting info.
Things to know:
You can only vote early at locations in the county in which you are registered to vote.
Voters with a Vote-By-Mail ballot can drop off their Vote-By-Mail ballot at any early voting location during voting hours.
To vote early, you must provide a valid photo ID including one with a signature. Valid IDs include a Florida driver’s license or ID card, U.S. passport, student, military, public assistance ID, and other IDs. You don’t need an ID to drop off a Vote-By-Mail ballot.
Coming Next Week
Political commentator Barrington Salmon takes an in-depth look at the impact of decades of Republican rule in Florida in a two-part series. We all have a sense of how corrupt things are in the Sunshine State. Salmon puts it all together. It’s not a pretty picture.
That Was The Week That Was
Trump in the dumps
As public criticism of President Trump’s job performance persists amid the months-long Iran war and resulting strains on the U.S. economy, the president is losing support from some voters in his party, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The latest Quinnipiac University poll found that only 32 percent of all registered voters support how the president has handled his second term in office. Fifty-eight percent of respondents disapproved, and 10 percent did not offer an opinion on his job performance.
Trump doesn’t want to pay E. Jean Carroll
Trump’s personal lawyers are appealing to the Supreme Court to reject an $83.3 million defamation penalty a jury awarded to writer E Jean Carroll. And Department of Justice attorneys have filed a similar petition.
Both argue that Trump’s statements against Carroll — who claims the Republican leader sexually assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store — fall within the bounds of his office’s immunity.
“Absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,” federal lawyers wrote in their filings.
Previous court rulings supporting the idea of presidential immunity, however, only applied to criminal prosecutions. They did not include civil cases like Carroll’s.
Blanche in limbo
Trump said last week that he wouldn’t object to temporarily withdrawing Todd Blanche as his nominee for attorney general amid resistance from two Republican senators, another major blow to Blanche’s confirmation battle.
Trump said he could renominate Blanche after Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the primary voices of opposition, have left the Senate in the new year. But that itself is a gamble, as the makeup of the Senate could shift in ways that would make Blanche’s confirmation even more difficult.
Meme of the Week
Quote of the Week
“I simply subscribe to the old-school Republican position that government should stay out of your life, out of your doctor’s office, and out of your bedroom. The last person you need sitting on the foot of your bed during hard family conversations is Byron Donalds.”
— David Jolly
Letter of the Week
We need a more representative democracy with proportional representation (if a party gets 30% of the vote, it gets 30% of the seats). It would end gerrymandering and elect more diverse representatives!
— Nick
Looking Ahead
When I’m not writing this newsletter, I also scribble a current events column for Florida Weekly. You should check it out. Here are some snippets, from there and elsewhere, to help guide your week ahead.
Arrghust is International Pirate Month. Did you know that during the Revolutionary War, our fledgling country worked with privateers to raid the British supply routes, and that during the War of 1812, a pirate saved the day during the Battle of New Orleans? You can read more about that in my Florida Weekly column here:
August 2. On this night in 1943, a Japanese destroyer rammed an American torpedo boat – PT 109—in the Solomon Islands. The boat’s commander, Lt. John F. Kennedy, saved the life of a fellow crew member by swimming with him in tow for 3.5 miles to a nearby island. His heroism launched his post-war political career, and he became the 35th president of the United States. He spent the rest of his shortened life suffering from a severe spinal injury as a result of that crash. Fortunately, he was spared the agony of bone spurs.
August 3. Grab Some Nuts Day. This is a holiday designed to encourage nuts in our diets for all their health benefits. What else did you think it was?
August 4. National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Just to state the obvious, the chocolate chip cookie is the very best cookie. In fact, there’s really no point in baking any other kind.
August 5. The first electric traffic light was installed on this day in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914. The historical record does not reveal the identity of the first unlucky driver to get a ticket for running a red light.
August 6. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on this day in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It banned racial discrimination in voting, and abolished literacy tests as a barrier to vote. The law was significantly weakened earlier this year, however, when a divided Supreme Court ruled that states could ignore racial demographics when drawing congressional districts, the upshot being fewer minorities in Congress.
August 7 is International Beer Day, which isn’t meant to imply that there aren’t also some fine beers brewed domestically. Florida is home to nearly 400 small and independent breweries. Nationwide, more than 13% of beer sales are now from craft brewers. Bottoms up!
August 8. International Hangover Day. Well, it’s the day after International Beer Day, so what do you expect?
August 9. Book Lover’s Day. Need a good book to read? Check out today’s sponsor below.
Last Week’s Tropic Press headlines
In case you missed it, here are some of the stories that headlined Tropic Press this past week. Click on the headlines to read the stories.
Democrats urge Trump administration to rethink Endangered Species Act rollback
We have discovered what Trump and Gollum have in common
This year’s midterms may lean Democrats’ way despite all the Republican gerrymandering
Trump, thwarted by lower courts, appeals to the Supremes to allow him to block mail ballots
Florida’s surgeon general links measles outbreak to abortion opposition
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J.C. Bruce
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Today’s sponsor: The Strange Files
Alexander Strange wants to get to Florida in the worst way. So, he arrives in a coffin. Chilling in its own right but made more so by the prediction of a New Orleans soothsayer that he soon will face death. Little does he know how true that will be. But he’ll find out soon enough at the Devil’s Millhopper.
Book Two of the Strange Files series takes our favorite weird news reporter on a bizarre scavenger hunt all over the Gunshine State. Join him in his journey here:
Can't believe his attorneys claim that defaming Ms. Carroll was "well within the scope of his federal office"! What will they claim next...and what does it take to be dis-barred??
You write that the jury verdict was "an $83.3 Million defamation penalty." I am sure that you did not mean to demean it by calling it a penalty, but call it by its true name: It was a jury verdict.
Thank you for the post about August 2, 1943 and JFK's courage. You wrote it well and it was good to read including the part you added that at least JFK did not have to suffer bone spurs after saving that sailor's life.