Early voting begins throughout South Florida

Voters get head start on gubernatorial race

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The countdown is on until the Aug. 28 primary election.

Early voting began Monday at designated locations throughout South Florida. 

One of the most closely watched races is governor.

There are eight Republican candidates and seven Democratic candidates vying to replace outgoing Gov. Rick Scott.

"Look at what’s going on right now. Things are people are not working. A lot of things are not going on, so we need new leadership," voter Venecia Henderson said. 

The crowded gubernatorial race includes five front-runners on the Democratic ticket: Andrew Gillum, Gwen Graham, Jeff Greene, Chris King and Philip Levine.

"I think there's multiple issues," Levine said. "I think paying teachers more, making sure we have public transportation, making sure we vote for someone that wants to provide health care for everyone in the state of Florida."

"If you pay teachers right, you treat them like professionals -- whether you want to collaborate with another, advanced training to teach coding and computer science, you'll get better schools," Greene said. 

On the Republican side, the two gubernatorial front-runners are Ron DeSantis and Adam Putnam.

In Miami-Dade County, early voting is held from Aug. 13 to Aug. 26. 

In Monroe County, it’s from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25.

And in Broward County, early voting is from Aug. 18 to Aug. 26.

"We need a good attorney general, we need a good governor," voter Abraham J. Thomas said. "Even if we were going to have a dog catcher in this community, I'd want it to be the best person possible to be the dog catcher."

Polls close at 3 p.m. Monday. 

Click here to find all the early voting locations and hours of operation in the county where you live.