Minimum lines as voters vote for primaries in Florida

Record ID: 1686613

  • Title: Minimum lines as voters vote for primaries in Florida
  • Date: 23rd August 2022
  • Summary: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 23, 2022) (REUTERS) SOUNDBITE (English) MI VECINO CO-FOUNDERS, DEVON MURPHY-ANDERSON AND ALEX BARRIOS SAYING: "I think if there's ever a time for the Democrats to come together and really fight back and take control of the narrative, it's exactly right now that Ron DeSantis has his lieutenant governor, pulls a grenade and tosses it around, suggesting that Cubans be shipped on busses. Now you have Cubans at the border. So how do you defend your immigration policy, your attack on immigrants? You know, it's not just Cubans. We all know I'm Puerto Rican, a Cuban. You know, we we have this diverse state. We have so many people in so many different places, countries of origin that come here for the American dream. And we're just seeing more and more of ourselves reflected in these attacks coming from Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislature in Florida." CAMPAIGN SIGNS IN FRONT OF NORTH DADE REGIONAL LIBRARY A WOMAN WAITING TO VOTE SOUNDBITE (Spanish) MIAMI RESIDENT AND VOTER, EGLEE FERNANDEZ SAYING: "This is the first time I voted in the primaries. I only would vote in presidential elections. But since they have lied to us, our commissioners, our mayors, and all these people say they’re going to fight for our rights and the truth is they only fight for the money. So now, I’m conscious of who to vote for based on what they’re offering, what I need, in order to demand. There has been an awakening lately and we’re not only voting for presidential elections but also locally.” POLLING PLACE SIGN AND PEOPLE SITTING AND STANDING IN THE SHADE CAMPAIGNING SOUNDBITE (English) MI VECINO CO FOUNDERS, DEVON MURPHY-ANDERSON SAYING: "Mi Vecino asks voters what matters to them, and we listen. And so we don't go into a community and say, Hey, these are the issues we think you should be voting on. And here are the candidates that line up with our values that we think should be your values. And something that Democrats and progressives really need to do a better job of is understanding that the way that people identify themselves is not the same way that we identify them." POLL WORKER STANDING WITH EMPTY MACHINES YOUNG CHILDREN PLAYING AROUND VOTING MACHINES SOUNDBITE (English) MIAMI RESIDENT AND VOTER, 'JACKSON' (NO FIRST NAME GIVEN) SAYING: "It's very important to vote because that's the only way you're going to be heard. That's the only way your voice is going to be heard as people, as a community, and as as a nation of, you know, in America. You need to get out there. People died for this, you know, in all cultures because Hispanics, Irish, everybody had a struggle when they first came to this country." SIGNS OF NIKKI FRIED AND CHARLIE CRIST MIAMI DADE FIRE STATION AS A POLL LOCATION
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2022 22:10
  • Keywords: crist desantis elections florida nikki fried primary voting
  • Location: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • City: MIAMI, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Government/Politics,United States,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA003021323082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Florida polls were open for voters to come and cast their ballots in the primaries on Tuesday (August 23.)
    Lines appeared minimal, seemingly a reflection of not many voters out in the tropical Florida weather.
    Mi Vecino's co-founders Alex Barrios and Devon Murphy-Anderson said this election so far isn't 'the norm.'
    "The biggest difference that we've seen in the current primary in Florida on the Democratic side, is there is less enthusiasm than what we saw in 2018. Right now, turnout among the different ethnicities within the electorate on the Democratic side are lower," Barrios said.
    While enthusiasm seems low, Mi Vecino, a not-for-profit organization, stills looks for ways to reach voters. Their specific goal is to motivate and inform Hispanic and first-time voters on topics that matter to communities of color.
    "Mi Vecino asks voters what matters to them, and we listen," says Murphy-Anderson. "And so we don't go into a community and say, 'Hey, these are the issues we think you should be voting on and here are the candidates that line up with our values that we think should be your values."
    Groups like Mi Vecino are trying to reach voters like Eglee Fernandez.
    "I’m conscious of who to vote for based on what they’re offering, what I need, in order to demand. There has been an awakening lately and we’re not only voting for presidential elections but also local," Fernandez said.
    This primary will decide which Democratic candidate faces Governor Ron DeSantis in the midterms. While Charlie Crist's campaign has been looking for a restoration of civility, Miami native Nikki Fried condemns the DeSantis team's ban on Cubans.
    "And her [Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez] comments were so insensitive, just to play on our culture wars, to back up an egregious policy that needs to be enforced, a national attention on immigration reform. But that's not why she's doing it," says Fried.
    "She says that she wants to, with this governor [Ron DeSantis], bus people out of the state of Florida to Delaware. That shows the culture divide," said Fried.
    (Production by: Maria Alejandra Cardona)
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