The outside of the new headquarters for the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office looks, mostly, like a modern government building.
Except for the giant pink flamingos at voting booths.
The flamingo-voting booth combination is the most unusual, and striking, element outside the new elections office on Cherry Road in an unincorporated part of the county near Palm Beach International Airport.
The installation entitled “VOTE!” is designed to convey both Florida and the elections operations taking place inside.
It consists of four oversized voting booths. Standing at three of them are flamingos, each taller than 30 feet. They’re in full flamingo mode: Two of the three are standing on only one leg. The third has both feet planted firmly on the ground.
One voting booth is empty.
“Even though VOTE! is a light-hearted image with flamingos, it illustrates the humanity of voting wherein each individual gets to express what is in their heart and mind,” artist Matthew Mazzotta’s website explains. “While all three flamingos stand in identical voting booths, they are voting in their unique way — One flamingo has its head down deep in thought, while the other two flamingos are sizing each other up or trying to see who the other one is voting for. The brightly-colored flamingos of VOTE! are designed to appeal to people from all age groups, serving as a whimsical and educational landmark.”
Siting, planning and construction of the new office was years in the making. In Palm Beach County, as well as in many other places, capital projects involve setting aside a portion of the budget for public art.
And with a $60.3 million project, the county’s 2% set aside left a healthy sum for public art. The cost totaled about $750,000 said Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link
The original proposal for the Art in Public Places program work, on the March 8, 2022 County Commission agenda, said it would “facilitate wayfinding and announce the Supervisor of Elections facility as ‘the voting and elections place’ as vehicular passengers and pedestrians approach the facility.”
There were a total of 75 project submissions from around the country, the County Commission background material said. Link said there were three finalists, and the selection committee unanimously recommended Mazzotta’s.
The original County Commission agenda item called for $796,000 for the design, permitting, fabrication and installation. In July 2023, the amount was reduced because responsibility for installing concrete footers and plaza areas and lighting was shifted to the contractor responsible for the overall project, Kast Construction Co.
Mazzotta is an award-winning artist who has produced works around the country, including a 21-foot flamingo at Tampa International Airport entitled “HOME.”
He’s been a fellow at Harvard University, received a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“At the heart of our voting process, we are a collection of unique individuals with a diverse range of experiences, but together we make the world we live in. Voting shapes day-to-day life in the US, however, the actions and policies of America extend to all reaches of the globe. As we become more and more aware of how interconnected we all are, we see the direct implications of our decisions on a global level, impacting all living creatures around the world. VOTE! urges us to consider the weight of voting on behalf of the people and beings who cannot vote but are affected by what we decide, for example, what would be on Nature’s mind if it had a chance to vote?” the creator’s website states.
The elections office was completed in April, staff soon moved in, and the facility was in full use for the August 20 primaries and nonpartisan elections. Since moving in, Link has heard plenty of reactions to the voting flamingos.
“I’ve heard a little bit of everything. I would say most people really like them,” Link said, adding that a few people offer a joke about the birds, mocking them for a similarity to the logo used by a large and well known state agency. “Some say I thought this was the lottery office.”
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.