See the Miami Heat parade — and register to vote, too

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I love a parade. Apparently, so do the Miami-Dade Democrats.

Taking advantage of the colossal number of people expected to descend on downtown Miami Monday for the Miami Heat Championship parade, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party sent an email asking for volunteers to help them register voters with team spirit.

The parade starts at 11 a.m. at the corner of Southwest 8th Street and Second Avenue and heads to Brickell Ave, then north to Biscayne Boulevard and ends at the American Airlines Arena.

And parade goers can register to vote at a number of spots along the way.

“We did it last year during the Obama campaign so we have a couple of good spots,” said Miami-Dade Dems Executive Director Juan Cuba, who will be wearing a Dwyane Wade jersey himself.

There will be between 20 and 30 volunteers fanned out at several different parking lots, but also at Bayside Marketplace and Bayfront Park, where a good number of people congregate before and after. “We may have some folks riding the MetroMover, too, but those are the best spots,” Cuba told Ladra, adding that he’s expecting to get at least 200 new registrants.

So far, I have not seen any similar parade voter drive put on by local Republicans. Miami-Dade Republican Party Chairman Nelson Diaz said the had one recently at the Farm Share event in Tropical Park and are too “slammed” with planning the Lincoln Day Dinner this coming weekend to do anything else.

While we are not sure how many people went to the Farm Share event, there is a good chance (read: sure bet) that there will be far more of an audience at the parade. Who doesn’t love a parade? Cuba was clear that the event offered a great number of people who would be all fired up anyway, if not about politics.

“This is definitely about 2014 and increasing the electorate,” Cuba said. “All new registrations are trending Democrat or No Affiliated Party that are leaning our way.”

This is not as much about gaining or holding on to new seats in the state chambers and in D.C. (read: for Congressman Joe Garcia and State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez) as it is about toppling Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. Check out Cuba’s facebook post on Saturday: “Today marks *500 days* till voters go to the polls in 2014. 500 days — that’s all we have left to make sure we bring down Rick Scott.”

Cuba said that the volunteers should be easy to spot among the throngs of thousands celebrating in downtown Monday: They’ll be the ones carrying clipboards.

  Miami Heat, Miami-Dade Democrats, voter registration