Latin American election officials on Wednesday got a fresh look at how elections are run in Florida and the United States, thanks to a helpful tour offered by the Broward County Supervisor of Elections.
The officials — about 10 leaders from places such as Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina — asked Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott about Florida’s voting rules, including how voting works for snowbirds who live in both the state and New York.
The visitors walked around the elections office’s new headquarters in northern Fort Lauderdale. During the tour, Scott pointed toward a space in the lobby where airport-style detectors will be used during elections to maintain safety.
Scott said as people from abroad learn about Broward’s election efforts, “it means a lot that some of the innovative approaches that we’ve taken over the last few years are getting recognition even beyond the United States.”
The visitors’ tour was coordinated by the Argentinian organization, Transparencia Electoral, in collaboration with the Florida International University. Jesús Delgado Valery, the program director for the organization, said the group has led more than 60 electoral observation missions, including one tour in Los Angeles — and yet Broward was a standout. “It’s not that regular that they have these kinds of offices and technology,” Valery said.
The Broward elections headquarters building opened late last year and was designed to ensure transparency between staff and the community.
Windows to rooms where in-person and mailed ballots are handled gives insight into how staff counts the ballots. And the facility also has heightened security, where any member of the public must sign in electronically before entering.
The purpose of the safety and accountability measures is to avoid any potential attacks from any assailant. Scott said the building was in the process of being planned when protesters rioted at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
“It really made us think about the fact that people might try to storm our building,” Scott said. “They might even feel like they have the patriotic duty to come in and disrupt what we’re doing.”
The building’s employee parking lot also is separated from the public, to limit interaction if there ever were protesters.
Ivan Castro, the Broward Supervisor of Elections’ communications manager, said one benefit to welcoming the international election officials was the chance to understand how elections are run in centralized systems, in contrast to the decentralized structure the U.S operates.
“We learn a lot from them and how they process their elections in other countries,” he said. “But we’re confident that we have one of the best election systems in the world in this great country.”
Broward’s Supervisor of Elections Office was previously split in two locations: a main office at the Governmental Center in downtown Fort Lauderdale and a space at the Lauderhill Mall.
There haven’t been any dangerous interactions between the public and staff at the new building, Scott said, adding that he expects employees could be working there for 50 years.
“At some point along the way,” he said, “we need to be prepared for anything that might come with all the different elections that we’re gonna have during that time.”
Members of the public are encouraged to come have a look at the new headquarters, too. “At the end of the day, this is the people’s building,” Castro said.
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