Podcaster and entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David says he showed up to vote at the same Broward County, Florida, polling location he always uses on Tuesday, only to be told he couldn’t vote there.
“Very weird, I always come here to vote in Broward County. Today is the first time that I go in there and they tell me ‘you can’t vote here.’ What do you mean I can’t vote here?” Bet-David said in a video he posted to his X account, as reported by Fox News.
According to Bet-David, election officials redirected him to a different voting location. He said he would go vote there, but questioned how many other voters would simply give up.
“Now I’m gonna go vote at the other location. How many people do you think don’t go because the other place is 25 minutes away and people got things to do?” he asked.
A Republican candidate jumps in
Partway through the video, Yoni Anijar, a Republican candidate for the Florida statehouse in District 100, joined Bet-David and pointed at Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott.
“Joe Scott is in charge of all things voting in Broward County,” Anijar said. “I’m a candidate running for statehouse in District 100, I’ve been here since 6am, I’ve met dozens of people, supporters of mine, the only Republican district in Broward, that people are being turned away at the polls.”
“The only Republican district in Broward that’s being pushed away,” Bet-David repeated. “Ridiculous.”
Bet-David closed with a message to other voters, saying a woman had just walked in telling him it was the third location she had tried. “I made sure to vote, so no matter what they do, move it two, three… Whatever you do, persevere and go out there and vote,” he said.
A rocky Election Day in Broward
It has not been a smooth day for voters in Broward County. When polls opened at 7 a.m., a new barcode feature meant to make sure voters get the correct ballot in precincts split by redistricting wrongly flagged ballots, stopping check-ins at polling sites across the county. Scott said the problem caused delays of about 20 minutes and was fixed by roughly 7:20 a.m., and that nobody voted on the wrong ballot.
Scott acknowledged that some voters who arrived early couldn’t wait and left without voting, and said it isn’t clear how many. He urged them to return to their assigned polling place before polls close.
Heavy flooding also forced the county to move two polling places, Precinct T18 in Davie and Precinct E10 in Coral Springs, to new locations.
It has not been publicly explained why Bet-David’s usual polling place turned him away, or whether his case is connected to the morning glitch or the flood relocations.
Still time to vote
Polls in Broward County are open until 7 p.m. Anyone in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot. Officials advise voters to check their county Supervisor of Elections website to confirm their precinct location before heading out.