A runoff for Surfside Mayor that was to be decided this week won’t be finished until the end of the month, a Miami-Dade County Judge decided, ruling that administering the election during Passover will reduce voter turnout.
Voters will still go to the polls on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., as originally planned, to choose whether they want former Mayor Shlomo Danzinger or Vice Mayor Tina Paul to take over as the town’s top elected official.
But results from that day won’t be released until after 7 p.m. on April 28, through which vote-by-mail ballots for the contest will be accepted.
Eligible mail-in voters can request ballots to be sent to them until April 16, according to Oren Rosenthal, an attorney for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections (SOE) Alina Garcia.
Notably, voters can also visit the Stephen P. Clark Center in downtown Miami or the SOE’s main office in Doral to get a mail-in ballot up to and including April 28. Rosenthal confirmed that the Doral location will accept mail-in ballots until 7 p.m. April 28.
Judge Lourdes Simon ruled on the matter Monday afternoon, one week after Danzinger and a group of Jewish organizations, rabbis and voters sued to postpone the election on religious grounds.
They argued that the April 8 election date conflicts directly with Passover, a major holiday during which many traditionally observant Jews are prohibited from activities including driving, writing and using electronics.
The suit — a petition for temporary injunction — cited the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Florida’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits governments from substantially burdening a person or religious organization’s exercise of religion.
Of Surfside’s more than 5,700 residents, an estimated 2,500 are Jewish, with a significant share of them identifying as Orthodox or Conservative.
Danzinger told Florida Politics that Simon’s ruling was “the best outcome” he could hope for, considering the election’s imminence.
“Given that we were having a hearing less than 20 hours before an election, we didn’t expect for it to be moved. Obviously, we didn’t know the complexities of adding a date, which the Supervisor of Elections highlighted. So, I think the Judge did the best she could given these limitations,” he said.
Danzinger said that while the suit described what it characterized as a “deep-seated animus toward the Jewish people” he and other complainants accused outgoing Mayor Charles Burkett of having — something Burkett has vehemently denied — he and his co-plaintiffs view the election’s Passover conflict as unintentional.
“This was an unforeseen consequence of a referendum that passed last election and has since been moved,” he said. “So, this is a one-time issue that will not occur again.”
Danzinger, a Republican, took 49.2% of the vote March 17, while Paul, a Democrat, received a 36.5% share of the vote in what was then a three-candidate contest.
To win outright, a candidate had to get more than 50% of the vote.
In a statement shared with press just before 5:15 p.m. Monday, Garcia said she was content with the case’s outcome.
“I am happy with this development and the opportunity to provide people of all faiths in Surfside the chance to fully participate in this election,” she said.
Danzinger’s co-plaintiffs include Chabad of Surfside; United Orthodox Synagogues of Surfside; Rabbis Gideon Moskovitz, Gavriel Koskas, David Elmaleh and Moshe Matz; and voter Ira Sturm.
