PBC retirement communities worry about voter onslaught

Palm Beach Post (FL)

After scrambling to move 17 polling places from assisted living facilities worried about the spread of coronavirus among its most vulnerable elderly population, Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link now faces an uprising from polling places at retirement communities.

On the forefront is Coral Lakes, a west of Boynton Beach community, which fears the onslaught of voters on Tuesday could bring the dreaded virus to their 1,372-unit development.

"I don't know what options we have," said General Manager Laurel Kadouri. "Lock our doors and be subject to arrest OR expose the community to the deadly virus? How can we be expected to have more than 2,000 people from various places come here at this point in time? This is a ticking time bomb."

But her options aren't good.

Link told Coral Lakes and another community with concerns, Valencia Cove, that she needed 14 days notice to move. Kadouri said the true impact of the virus was not known 14 days ago so the requirement needs to be waived.

But Link, who has not yet returned a call from The Palm Beach Post, told the community's lawyer she did not have the ability to waive it.

The change at the assisted-living facilities came after a recommendation from Gov. Ron DeSantis, although Link said she made the move after getting complaints from operators worried about bringing the virus into contact with their elderly populations.

About 30 percent of Palm Beach County's population is 60 or older, the group considered most vulnerable to the disease caused by the virus, COVID-19.

Kadouri said her community was so concerned that the master board considered seeking an emergency court order to prevent the voting from taking place at its clubhouse since President Trump has declared a national emergency. The board has thus far decided not to go to court because its lawyer said there was little likelihood they would prevail.

Coral Lakes shut down its clubhouse out of coronavirus concerns at 5 p.m. Friday. Now, they will have to reopen it to accommodate voters.

Voters in Precincts 5048 and 5050 are assigned to Coral Lakes, which is east of Jog Road off of Flavor Pict Road. The two precincts accounted for 862 in-person voters in the presidential primary four years ago.

Meanwhile, Link's office has mailed letters to voters in the 17 precincts that have been moved telling them where they must vote on Tuesday. She also placed an advertisement in Sunday's Palm Beach Post.

Despite the coronavirus scare or perhaps because of it, more Floridians are taking advantage of early voting this year than in 2016.

Statewide, about 525,000 voters have cast ballots at early voting sites, with two days to go. In 2016, with contested primaries for both parties, early voting drew 538,000 voters overall.

The breakdown in Palm Beach County: so far this year 29,000 early votes have been cast, just exceeding the total of 28,889 reported in 2016. About 80 percent of the county's early voters were registered Democrats.

Early voting is open at 16 locations in Palm Beach County until 6 p.m. Saturday and reopens for its final day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

As of Saturday afternoon, 1.2 million Floridians had cast vote-by-mail ballots, 51 percent of them Republicans, the Florida Division of Elections reported.

In Palm Beach County, 77,800 votes had been cast by mail, 63 percent of them from Democrats. Palm Beach County has nearly 1 million registered voters.

The four states holding presidential primaries on Tuesday -- Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Ohio -- will not postpone their elections because of coronavirus outbreaks, top elections officials from those states said on Friday.

The Democratic primary features former Vice President Joe Biden against Sen. Bernie Sanders but also includes more than a dozen other candidates, many of whom have dropped out.

On the Republican side, while Donald Trump is the presumed nominee, the Florida ballot includes three contestants.

Aside from the presidential primary, which is open only to registered Democrats and Republicans, about 20 Palm Beach County municipalities have races and referendums on Tuesday's ballot, open to residents of any political party or none at all but they must live within their city's limits.

cpersaud@pbpost.com

@chrismpersaud

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