MIAMI, Florida — As Florida’s early voting gets underway, several organizations including a labor union found a unique way to get Miami residents to the polls despite their demanding and long work shifts.
The Florida SEIU Local 1991 chapter hosted a get-out-the-vote effort at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. Workers at the hospital, many of them Latino, were greeted out front with taco trucks and a free shuttle bus to help them get to the polls downtown.
SEIU Local 1991 partnered with AFSCME Local 1363, Florida Immigrant Coalition, FLIC Votes, and iAmerica to host the event.
"Working at the hospital really is a 365-day of the year job, and so having somebody come out, bring us and take us out to go vote is really convenient," said Mexican-American child specialist at the hospital.
Though the get-out-the-vote effort is non-partisan, the union has come out in support of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Florida is a coveted state for both candidates and the campaigns are spending a lot of time holding rallies and exhorting people to vote.
On Monday, the first day of early voting, 291,449 people cast their ballots throughout Florida. The in-person voting counts show more registered Democrats have voted than registered Republicans: 133,041 to 109,034. Before early voting opened, 1,323,434 mailed in their ballots, showing 556,058 Republicans and 525,076 Democrats voted by mail. Another 1.8 million requesting to mail in their votes.
