Miami-Dade Democrats have called for County Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia to recuse herself from this November’s midterm canvassing board, following Garcia’s public endorsement of Florida’s Amendment 3 property tax proposal.
Garcia, a registered Republican with ties to the local GOP, recently encouraged voters during a press conference to vote “yes” on Amendment 3, which will increase Florida’s homestead property tax exemption and limit how local governments can use ad valorem taxes. Garcia is Miami-Dade’s first elected Supervisor of Elections, and the first to advocate for something on the ballots that her office is responsible for counting.
“The job of our Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections is to administer our elections in a completely non-partisan way; that means that at every stage of the elections process, their own political opinions are never allowed to call into question their judgement or their ability to center the voices of, or the will of the voters,” said Laura Kelley, chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
Garcia told WLRN that she sees no conflict because she supports the ballot measure in her personal capacity, and is not using her office’s resources to campaign for it.
“This is a non-partisan issue that anyone concerned about home affordability, the prosperity of small businesses and rising costs especially for young people and older adults on fixed incomes should consider,” Garcia said in a statement to WLRN.
The Miami-Dade Dems nevertheless argue that Garcia’s impartiality is now in question, and believe she should be replaced on the elections canvassing board before the midterms. The canvassing board is made up of Garcia and two county judges, and is responsible for determining the validity of ballots and whether they should be counted.
Garcia said her counting of votes will be impartial, and she will not recuse herself from the board.
“Everyone sitting on that canvassing board is gonna have an opinion. I just spoke up about my opinion,” she said.
Garcia added that she believes Amendment 3 will bring much-needed relief for would-be homeowners and renters, as Miami-Dade has become too expensive.
“I had four apartments with a business partner in Little Havana. My last tax bill was like $7,500. Who pays for that? I’m not gonna pay for that out of pocket. It’s the tenants,” she said.
Garcia’s impartiality has been called into question before, when more than 100,000 registered Democrats were removed from the voter rolls in 2025 after she took office, far outpacing the number of Republicans purged from the rolls during the same period.
Garcia said at the time that the voter roll purge was done in compliance with new Florida elections laws, which require voters to renew their registration if they are deemed inactive.
Joshua Ceballos is WLRN’s Local Government Accountability Reporter and a member of the investigative team. His work appears under a partnership between WLRN and the Key Biscayne Independent.
