Coral Gables election wraps up on Tuesday, but 6,800+ have already voted

The rain Sunday didn’t dampen the early voting crowd in Coral Gables as much as Ladra thought it would. There were almost as many voters as on Saturday, for a total of 1,554 ballots cast at the Coral Gables library.

Another 540 vote-by-mail or absentee ballots were stuffed into the drop box — 254 on Saturday and 286 on Sunday. That makes it a total of 2,094 votes just over the weekend.

Another 4,777 vote-by-mail or absentee ballots had been received at the Miami-Dade Elections Department by Friday, according to Deputy Supervisor Suzy Trutie. Which means at least 6,871 people have already voted.

Adding just the ABs together, the total vote-by-mail ballots returned would be at least 5,317 from the 12,538 requested, representing about 42% of the inventory.

Tuesday is the last chance for Gables voters to cast their ballots for mayor and two commissioners. Expect runoffs in the two commission contests, with a slight chance of one in the mayoral race, thanks to a last minute press on that stupid Carollton School letter, which Ladra does not think is a deal breaker, if only because the alternative is much worse.

Early voting was sort of slow, but it was also entertaining. Commission candidate Mayra Joli, the enthusiastic nodding lady from the Trump town hall, channeled Whitney Houston on a karaoke machine and she and mayoral candidate Jackson “Rip” Holmes did a little show to Singing in the Rain on Sunday. Ladra told everyone they each had entertainment value.

On Saturday, Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — fresh off double scandals involving his ghost employee and an illegal nightclub where he allegedly injured a code enforcement inspector — was milling around, the only guy in a suit. It looked like the same suit he wore to that illegal nightclub in Allapattah in February. Doesn’t he own casual wear?

Observers thought he was there to psyche out commission candidate Tania Cruz-Gimenez and her husband, lobbyist Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, because of their, um, falling out. But nooooo. The Dean was there to lend a hand to Vice Mayor Vince Lago in his mayoral run. This is more damning than the letter.

Lago knows that. He seemed almost apologetic about ADLP being there.

“Alex Diaz de la Portilla, along with five other officials, called me to voice their opposition to the Miami Herald’s change in our endorsement,” Lago told Ladra Saturday. “Alex offered to join us and bring volunteers, and he showed up.”

ADLP is probably trying to score points with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a staunch ally and cousin to Lago, who also dropped by on Saturday. Baby X is all the Dean has left now that the other two amigos have turned on him.

People tried to dodge Diaz de la Portilla — like, awkward! — but he kept coming up to them, trying to be important in his suit and tie, running a group of Venezuelan “volunteers” on site. Ladra can’t help but wonder if it’s the same young ladies caught stealing and destroying absentee ballots on a WhatsApp chat in the 2018 special election for the Miami-Dade district 5 commission seat.

“At the end of the day, we had close to 90 volunteers (friends and family),” Lago told Ladra. Wonder where the WhatsApp girls fall. Friends, right?

Ladra would like to ask the county elections supervisor and the new city commission when elected to please extend the early voting period in Coral Gables for 2023.

And sell popcorn.