Miami-Dade Voters Report Voting Issues in Harvard Survey, Led by Misleading Messages About the Election
About one in three Miami-Dade voters surveyed by Harvard's Shorenstein Center reported at least one voting-related problem this cycle — most often misleading calls, texts or messages — in a small survey the researchers themselves say should be read as a signal, not a county-wide measurement.
About one in three Miami-Dade voters surveyed during this midterm cycle reported running into at least one voting-related issue, according to a report by Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy released through WLRN. Of 164 Miami-Dade residents surveyed between August 23 and October 26, 32.9 percent reported at least one of six monitored electoral problems, compared with 26.5 percent nationwide and 26.4 percent in Florida.
The most common problems in Miami-Dade were misleading calls, texts or messages about the elections, reported by 19 percent of respondents against 9.5 percent nationally, and trouble with electoral tasks such as verifying registration or requesting a mail ballot, reported by 17 percent against 7.2 percent nationally. One recent county example cited in the reporting involved a robocall by the Democratic super PAC Battleground Alliance against U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar that PolitiFact examined.
The study's own limits are stated plainly in its reporting: participants were recruited online, counties considered at higher electoral risk were oversampled, and the margin of error for the Miami-Dade figure is plus or minus 7.2 percentage points — a range that places the county's difference from the national rate within the margin. The researchers advise treating the findings as signals warranting further attention or verification rather than precise estimates of election administration. For Miami-Dade voters, early voting continues at 28 sites through Sunday, November 1, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, November 3.
