145,000 Mail-In Ballots Ready To Go Out To Voters In Broward County

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - On Friday morning Broward elections workers wheeled 145,000 mail-in ballots onto a tractor-trailer headed to a postal facility in Opa-locka for processing.

The mail-in ballots, which had been under lock and key, will soon be in the hands of voters who requested them for the Florida March 17th primary.

The operation happened under the watchful eyes of supervisor of elections Pete Antonacci and his chief deputy Mary Hall.

"We have been practicing. We've done mock elections and I feel the team is ready," Hall said.

A lot is riding on this election after the turbulent 2018 contest when there was a statewide recount and Broward found itself thrust into the national spotlight.

There were unfounded charges of fraud and former supervisor Brenda Snipes left after a tumultuous 15-year tenure.

Her time was marked by controversial elections, missed deadlines and often slow tabulations.

Hall says the Broward County canvassing board stepped up and has provided additional resources including more workers, four additional tabulation machines and
22 new computers for early voting sites to check voter registration.

They don't fear an app failure that stalled the Iowa Caucus count and the head of IT says there are many safeguards in place to prevent computer hacking and the concern of tainted votes.

"Homelands security and the FBI watch us. We monitor ourselves. There's a difference between poking the wall and getting through the wall," said IT director John Wolf.

Click here to request a mail-in ballot if you live in Broward County.