Voter Turnout by Cities/Areas in Miami Dade County. By Geniusofdespair

Here are some the best (in bold) and worst turnouts for the Nov. 6, 2012 election at some of the larger precincts and cities around Miami Dade County. Remember that the turnout for the County was 67.51%:

1) Precinct Number, 2) Municipality, 3) Registered Voters in Precinct, 4) Voter Turnout by Percentage:

004 Sunny Isles Beach 2,136, 62.59%
008 Bay Harbor Islands 1,142, 78.28%
009 Surfside 3,339, 74.24%
015 Miami Beach 893, 81.41%
020 Miami Beach 165, 83.76%
027 Miami Beach 877, 60.32%
033 Miami Beach 1,028, 58.95%
034 Miami Beach 718, 61.70%
037 Miami Beach 1,134 57.85%
051 Key Biscayne 2,107, 76.03%
107 Unincorporated 919, 62.68%
111 Aventura 4,377, 72.54%
123 N. Miami Beach 2,840 62.85%
125 N. Miami Beach 520, 61.35%
148 North Miami 1886, 66.65%
156 Miami Shores 1593, 81.29%
157 Miami Shores 1132, 80.06%
162 Unincorporated 1699, 63.51%
167 Unincorporated  2,275, 63.96%
169 North Miami 445, 62.35%
176 North Miami 590, 59.49%
179 Miami Shores 480, 80.40%
200 Unincorporated 3,473, 58.31%
201 Unincorporated 2,181, 53.05%
206 Miami Gardens 4,388, 77.48%
217 Miami Gardens 2,204, 75.73%
232 Unincorporated 1,320, 61.97%
246 Unincorporated 2,584, 50.23%
248 Unincorporated 3,124, 59.96%
265 Opa Locka 496, 64.52%
276 Miami Gardens 570, 58.07%
280 Opa Locka 512, 51.81%
304 Unincorporated 6,559, 57.43%
321 Hialeah 3,435, 61.66%
322 Hialeah 2,457, 55.35%
327 Hialeah 2,468, 60.98%
337 Hialeah 3,026, 62.59%
351 Unincorporated 4859, 60.79%
352 Miami Lakes 3,235, 78.79%
359 Hialeah 4,437, 57.07%
372 Unincorporated 1,149, 62.75%
390 Miami Lakes 3022, 77.63%
403 Unincorporated 5,548, 59.81%
410 Sweetwater 4,435, 60.95%
426 West Miami 1,697, 74.43%

Mayor Election - Some areas are more apathetic than others. By geniusofdespair

To give you an idea about how bad turnout was in some precincts, in Precinct 984, 47 voters, out of 955, voted (less than 5%). Yet Precinct 113 had an 18.38% turnout and some precincts in Hialeah averaged 30%. Precinct 178 had a 66.67% turnout but there are only 3 voters in that precinct. My precinct had a 10% turnout. Hialeah's 30% turnout, do you think it is thanks to all the senior housing and lunch/breakfast programs?

I am only going to look at larger precincts in this cursory survey. And yes there are precincts with only 1 voter (562 for example). Precinct 905 has 6,251 voters in it but only 498 voted. What makes some precincts turn out great numbers (Hialeah) and other dismal numbers (Sunny Isles Beach) is a good question. One answer, having a convenient polling place (like inside an apartment building - Point East below) does increase the numbers.

Large Precincts to watch because of low turnout:

Precinct/Percent Voting/Area of Polling Place
004 - 6.80% Sunny Isles Beach
043 - 5.95% Miami Beach
067 - 7.78% Sunny Isles Beach
123 - 7.41% North Miami Beach
145 - 4.74% North Miami
167 - 7.68% Miami (22800 SW 112 Ave.)
209 - 6.82% Miami (20770 NE 14 Ave.)
355 - 9.57% Miami (6500 NW 202 St.)
462 - 6.95% Doral
501 - 8.54% Miami (514 NW 77 St.)
529 - 8.75% Miami (3220 NW 7 Ave.)
534 - 5.23% Miami (1901 North Miami Avenue)
640 - 9.10% Miami (1241 Dickinson Dr.)
774 - 8.19% Miami (9889 Hammocks Blvd.)
827 - 9.00% Miami (19355 SW 114 Ave.)
905 - 7.97% Miami (13550SW 256 St.)
984 - 4.92% Miami (1105 SW 2nd Ave.)

Large Precincts to watch because of high turnout:

Precinct/Percent Voting/Area of Polling Place
015 - 18.82% Miami Beach
032 - 19.29% Miami Beach
113 - 18.38% Point East Condo, Aventura
157 - 18.55% Miami Shores
231 - 18.60% Miami (17701 NW 57 Ave.)
253 - 21.30% Miami (930 NW 95 St.)
301 - 19.34% Miami (7801 NW 178 St.)
314 - 34.94% Hialeah
330 - 36.17% Hialeah
331 - 34.29% Hialeah
361 - 34.09% Hialeah
399 - 36.17% Miami (15155 W 10 St.)
409 - 30.22% Sweetwater
427 - 28.01% West Miami
503 - 35.23% Miami (1407 NW 7th St.)
548 - 27.98% Coral Gables
526 - 19.49% Miami (1901 NW 24 Ave.)
575 - 31.60% Miami (1040 SW 29 Ct.)
617 - 23.51% Coral Gables
837 - 19.09% Miami (16301 SW 80th Ave.)
992 - 33.39% Miami (5849 NW 7 St.)

Javier Souto: His Memo's are as long as His Tirades. By Geniusofdespair

I have to admit I am growing to appreciate the wit of the ramblin' man (unintentional on his part I think). Look at this memo Commissioner Javier Souto wrote to County Manager Burgess July 31st, it is a hoot and it also serves as a lesson on what is wrong with district voting (commissioners have tunnel vision, only seeing their district -- very obvious here):

"I called you today and was told by one of your 18 Assistant County Managers, that you were on vacation in Australia and you could not call me because you were out of reach. I tried to get the telephone number to your hotel, but they would not give it to me.

Last week, your secretary called my secretary to inform me that you could no longer attend or provide an Assistant County Manager, a Senior Advisor to the County Manager, an Executive Assistant to the County Manager, a Special Assistant to the County Manager, or one of your 18 Assistant County Managers to examine municipal problems in Fontainebleau, Westchester and Kendall (District 10) (UMSA – Unincorporated Municipal Service Area). We have checked the salaries of all these assistants of yours, and they total over $3.5 million. (Hit read more) You can probably add another half a million dollars in benefits. I want to know if any percentage of these salaries are paid with UMSA tax dollars. I want you to know that the community is pretty angry about the high salaries in Miami-Dade County government in general. Now is the time to do more with less. But I see that you don’t know how to manage in difficult times. Managing when there is lots of money around is easy. Let me remind you that the Westchester-Kendall area is the top per capita vote producer area in Miami-Dade County. Everyone is watching.

As you are aware, I have expected all your predecessors, County Managers, over the past 15 years: Joaquin Avino, Armando Vidal, Merritt Stierheim, and Steve Shiver to dedicate 2 or 3 hours a week to their other responsibilities, as the Municipal Managers for the tax payers and residents of UMSA (Unincorporated Municipal Service Area). (In District 10, that I represent, we are 100% UMSA.) They all understood this as an important function and responsibility since in addition to their responsibility as County Manager, they are responsible for overseeing the services provided to the residents of UMSA (the largest “city” in Miami-Dade County) for the $481 million in taxes that they paid last year alone. In the past, all your predecessors attended these Friday tours of the Unincorporated areas of Westchester, Fontainebleau and Kendall themselves, even though they all had less than half the number of Assistant County Managers to help them than you have today. Over the past three years, you began attending less and less frequently and sending your Assistant County Managers instead. Lately, you send the Assistant to the Assistant County Manager and I have not complained about your diminishing involvement in overseeing the Unincorporated Areas and the municipal services provided to the Unincorporated Areas.

You have shortchanged my constituents of District 10 by dedicating your time to other “more important” matters to you, like the tunnel or the baseball stadium. I too have a busy schedule as an elected official. However, I tour my district almost daily, including evenings and weekends to make sure that storm drains are functioning, street lights are working, shopping centers are illuminated, bulky waste trash piles are being collected, etc. You can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new departments like 311, on management strategies and plans, on studies, on surveys and opinion polls, but unless you go into the neighborhoods to look at the problems that are clearly visible and talk to the people paying the taxes and using the services, you are wasting millions of dollars in tax payers monies.

All the studies, theories and surveys won’t uncover deterioration of municipal services, and get the pulse of the community. By the way, since you moved from Budget Director to County Manager, the number of departments has increased from 34 to 50, most of it under your administration. While the County Administration was growing, the services were diminishing and the areas of County responsibility were diminishing too. Dade County lost eight large areas of Unincorporated Miami-Dade County, where we provided municipal services ten years ago, as new cities incorporated (Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Miami Gardens, Miami Lakes, and Doral). However, you kept creating departments and inflating the budget.

The time for bureaucrats in fancy offices is gone. It is time for pounding the pavement to see firsthand the pain and suffering that our tax payers and small businesses are experiencing, in these difficult moments of deep economic recession that we are living.

I am very disappointed in your decision of not touring District 10, 100% UMSA, anymore on a weekly basis, and in the manner in which you communicated this decision through your secretary. This means that you do not have the time or staff to dedicate to the tax payers of Westchester, Fontainebleau, and Kendall (District 10).

I can see that you are “too busy” to talk to me, the Commissioner of the area. If you insult me, you are in fact insulting the community that I represent.

I won’t forget these actions."

And I won't forget what Souto said here: We have checked the salaries of all these assistants of yours, and they total over $3.5 million.

District Voting Sucks. By Geniusofdespiar

Look at these wacky district configurations designed to get a certain group: See More:


In my view: Nothing separates us more than District Voting. Why can't our needs get met by like-minded elected officials? Why do they have to match our race or ethnic background?