More than 1,100 people have already voted in the Homestead primary as early voting opens today for the last chance to cast a ballot 
before Election Day Tuesday.
That includes 810 absentee ballots returned as of Friday and 169 and 154 early voters casting in person on Thursday and Friday. That’s already more than the 977 votes cast in the 2011 primary, but there was only one council seat on that ballot. The mayoral ticket in this Homestead primary should rival the turnout for the last general election, which was 2,166.
That’s because there has been a lot of interest in this race, generated by the candidates:
- Former Mayor Steve Bateman, who was suspended last month after he was arrested on public corruption charges for a secret lobbying job he got using his position as mayor
- Redland Hotel owner Mark Bell, husband of Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell, who was reportedly thrown into the race by his wife in what some say is a litmus test on her own power (more on that later).
- Former Councilman Jeff Porter, who really didn’t register as much before Bateman’s early morning arrest on charges of unlawful compensation but is now poised to go into a runoff.
- And the Rev. Joseph Sewell, who probably is the best man for the job if he is truly a man of the cloth.
Some observers say that the runoff now will be between Bell and Porter. But Ladra is wondering if everyone is underestimating Bateman, who seems to have a persistently loyal following that seems very motivated to vote.
The campaigning has gotten ugly in Homestead, and not just in repetitive and seemingly unnecessary — though fun — swipes at the former (read: disgraced) mayor. Porter’s ethics have been called into question for an inquiry into his business dealings that was apparently dismissed. Bell has been called a puppet of his wife’s and her handlers, chiefly his campaign manager, lobbyist Jose Luis Castillo.
There are also council races but, let’s face it, nobody cares about those with all the drama in the mayoral race.
Whatever happens today, when early voting ends at 7 p.m. at the Homestead Library, 700 N. Homestead Blvd., we still have two days to see what else comes out Homestead.
In Miami Lakes, where the campaigns have stayed mostly clean (more on that later), there have been almost 1,100 votes — but that is just counting absentee ballots since early voting is limited to today. Pretty low, by last year’s mayoral race standards. Almost 4,000 people voted absentee in the Miami Lakes election last November. This shotgun wedding election will pale in comparison.
The mayoral candidates here are:
- Councilman Nelson Hernandez, who resigned from his council seat, where he should have stayed in the best interest of Miami Lakes. His jump to the mayor’s seat is in his best interest and not the city’s. It also creates another opening for yet another puppet of the Hialeah AB mafia. Hernandez, whose PAC may have spent more than it collected (more on that later) was the first to go negative this week with a mailer attacking founding Mayor Wayne Slaton for his tax record. Still, it’s sorta like attacking Santa Claus and Ladra is not sure that is going to win a whole lotta votes.
- Wayne Slaton, who is leading at least one poll of 160-some voters, which is almost 20 percent of the people who voted so far.
- Activist David “Doc” Bennett, who was right all along about former Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi, who was suspended after he was charged last month with pubic corruption charges completely unrelated to Bateman’s. Because that’s how we roll in the 305.
- And retired Hialeah Firefighter Luis Espinosa, who would have won the council race if he had checked his ego at the door. But what can you expect from the creator of the firefighters’ calendar?
- We don’t count Edwin Romero because he doesn’t count himself (read: hasn’t shown up to any of the forums).
Miami Dade Elections Department spokeswoman Christina White said it is up to cities to decide how many days of early voting to have. For some reason, Miami Lakes chose one day, today, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Miami Lakes library, 6699 Windmill Gate Road.
A total of 1,073 absentee ballots were returned from Miami Lakes voters as of Friday, White told me.
Talk about low turnout.
If you live in either of these cities, Ladra urges you to go and vote today. Don’t let a small number of motivated people make this important decision for you.
Early voting ends today in Homestead, Miami Lakes election added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
