Nearly 60,000 people voted absentee or early on whether the Miami Dolphins should get tourist taxes for a major facelift of Sun Life Stadium. But the legislature nixed the deal last Friday when the Speaker Will Weatherford, a Pasco County Republican, refused to allow it to be brought up. The election in Miami-Dade was called off as of the end of the day Friday. So what would become of all those votes? Would they be counted, revealed, thrown out? At Miami-Dade Elections headquarters there was confusion. No one could recall an election – already underway – being cancelled. Elections officials waffled. The ballots might be kept secret. They might be released. They might be destroyed. Mayor Carlos Gimenez put an end to the confusion Tuesday in an interview with CBS4′s Gary Nelson.
“They are a public record,” the mayor said of the stadium ballots.
Which means can be tallied and disclosed.
“They can be counted and then whatever the election was up to that point is a public record and can be made public,” Gimenez said.
A short time later, Deputy Elections Supervisor Christina White announced the results of the absentee and early votes on the stadium issue will be released on May 15th, the day after municipal elections in North Miami and Sweetwater which also include the Dolphins referendum item.
Full Article: Dolphins Vote Won’t Count But Will Be Counted « CBS Miami.