SURFSIDE, Fla. — A judge agreed Monday to extend the mail-in ballot return deadline for Tuesday’s runoff election for Surfside mayor.
That’s because candidate Shlomo Danzinger and Jewish advocacy groups filed an emergency lawsuit to delay the runoff election to later in April because of a conflict with the Passover holiday.
Danzinger, who was Surfside’s first Orthodox Jewish mayor, is seeking a return to office. He lost his 2024 re-election bid to Mayor Charles Burkett and now faces Tina Paul, the town’s vice mayor.
Nearly half the town’s population is Jewish.
“You’re looking at about 20 to 50% of the voters who were having their voting rights impaired by having this runoff election tomorrow,” attorney Joshua Kligler argued.
Town representatives and the county elections supervisor agreed that accommodations should be made for voters, but questioned the 11th-hour timing of the lawsuit.
“Passover was established 3000 years ago when the Jews were released from Egypt,” Oren Rosenthal, an attorney for the county elections supervisor, said in court, “The date of the runoff election was capable of being known for 30 years.”
Judge Lourdes Simon pointed out that changing an existing election date could disenfranchise additional voters who may not be able to vote on a new date.
“As a general rule, I would agree that courts do not engage in enjoining or changing an election during a period of time, especially on the eve of an election, because of the risk of confusion to voters,” she said.
Simon ultimately agreed to a compromise to keep in-person voting on Tuesday, but to extend the mail-in ballot period until April 28.
“This will ensure enough time for people to order receive and cast their ballots,” she said.
Danzinger was pleased with the decision.
“I think she found the right balance and ensured that people would not be disenfranchised from participating in this upcoming election,” he said.
All mail-in ballots have to be received by the county elections office in Doral by April 28. Residents unable to mail the ballots in time can drop their ballots off there.
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