Florida Election Blog: Donald Trump wins Florida
It's Election Day... finally!
Months of nonstop campaigning, attack ads and political propaganda in your mailbox will end today. Polls are open in Florida from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The whole nation will be watching Florida's election. Why? We're worth 29 delegates to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and many pundits believe Trump cannot win the presidency without winning Florida, and Clinton's task will be much tougher without Florida's support. That, and Florida doesn't exactly have a stellar track record when it comes time to count votes (does the term "hanging chad" ring a bell?).
All day, the USA TODAY Network-Florida will be scouring the state for election news, publishing a running account of political news impacting Florida. Items below are listed in reverse chronological order.
READ MORE: 2016 Elections
10:04 p.m. - DONALD TRUMP WINS FLORIDA
Republican Donald Trump won a tight race in Florida on Tuesday, with supporters in the Panhandle and Southwest helping him push back a huge turnout in south Florida that boosted Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Click here to read read more »
9:06 p.m. - AMENDMENT 1 FAILS
The state’s most powerful utility companies seem to have failed to convince enough voters to adopt a constitutional amendment proponents claimed would protect the public’s right to put solar panels on their rooftops. With 8.3 million votes cast by 8:30 p.m. statewide, Amendment 1 had garnered just under 51 percent of the vote. It needs 60 percent to pass.
8:50 p.m. - AMENDMENT 2 PASSES
Florida voters are poised to approve a constitutional amendment guaranteeing seriously ill patients the right to medical marijuana. With about 8.5 million votes cast, Amendment 2 has more than 71 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. At least 60 percent is required for approval.
7:12 p.m. - HEAVY VOTER TURNOUT IN SOUTH FLORIDA
Heavy voter turnout in South Florida is good news for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as the state’s voting booths come to a close Tuesday. In Miami-Dade, nearly 950,000 people had voted as of 5 p.m. That puts voter turnout at 69 percent. Four years ago, 67 percent of the active registered electorate voted in total. In Broward, 814,000 people had voted or 69 percent of the electorate. In 2012, 66 percent voted in the entire election.
7:08 p.m. - DISTURBANCES REPORTED AT FLORIDA POLLING PRECINCTS
In Lake Worth, a disturbance was reported at a polling site Tuesday afternoon, according to Palm Beach County sheriff’s officials. Deputies went to a polling location in the 2700 block of Lake Worth Road about 2:40 p.m. and found two men who claimed one assaulted the other, according to officials. Click here to read more »
In Cocoa, police were called out to investigate reports of a disturbance between supporters of Republican presidential contender Donald Trump and onlookers along a major intersection near a polling precinct. The incident happened around 2 p.m. in the area of State Road 520 and Fiske Boulevard, where a large truck decked out with a Trump/Pence flag and an American flag was parked. Click here to read more »
6:40 p.m. - 'I VOTED' STICKER
Those iconic "I Voted" stickers always make a political fashion statement, but this year, voters on the Space Coast are receiving an even fancier addition to their wardrobe. And locals are so stuck on the design of the "I Voted" sticker being offered for the first time in Brevard, the offerings are flying out the doors of early voting sites and the office of the supervisor of elections.
5:22 p.m. - ELECTION DAY SCUFFLE
Police are investigating an Election Day scuffle between a voter and a Donald Trump supporter outside a polling location Tuesday morning in Jupiter. About 10 a.m., police said they received several 911 calls about a fight between a man and a woman outside the Jupiter Community Center.
5:09 p.m. - EARLY VOTE COUNT
If you voted early and want to make sure your vote counted, you should be able to find your name on this database. Note: The site has been periodically down on Election Day, possibly due to excessive traffic. We downloaded the Leon County document before the site went down.
4:24 p.m. - WHAT FLORIDIANS ARE SAYING
The USA TODAY Network has six properties in Florida, and reporters are out in full force today speaking with registered voters. This presidential campaign has been like no other, and a sampling of quotes gathered this afternoon indicates the level of fire voters have been feeling.
William B. Wheat III, a Trump voter who was decided till the last day
“To be honest with you both candidates scared the crap out of me. You just didn’t want to vote for either one of them. The email leaks from Hillary that shows she wasn’t being truthful to the American public. Donald’s insistent unusable temper. He doesn’t come off as a very nice person. But at the same time, I think Hillary would be the same eight years of spiral that we’ve been going through.”
Bianca Murphy, who never wavered in her support of Hillary Clinton
“She’s evolved over time. I call her a centrist trying to move a little more to the left. I love her stance as it related to children, education and I think that she is the best person for the job especially when it comes of foreign policy. I’m not clear what the heck Donald Trump stands for. He has a bad attitude. He’s not presidential, by that I don’t mean he doesn’t look presidential. I mean he’s not comfortable in debate, he’s not comfortable with anybody challenging him, he’s not comfortable with anybody having a different set of ideas.”
Tonya Edele, FSU junior, 19 - Trump
"It's partly because it's a vote against Hillary, but also I feel like he serves a purpose. I think he pisses off all the right people."
Matt Johnson, 38 - Trump
"I don't think that either of the choices were good. I hate to use the cliché, 'lesser of two evils' but there are a lot of issues, which I know Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in general are in support of, that I am diametrically opposed to."
On the importance of this election...
"I think there are a lot of important issues at stake. Do I think this is the end of the United States as we know it? No, I don't. I think there's a lot of hyperbole the media can feed into and we as voters can feed into as well."
Riley Torrence, FSU freshman, 18 - Clinton
"One hundred years ago, I couldn't vote, and now today I can vote for the first female president... It's important to us because we're still young, we have the rest of our lives ahead of us and the person we vote for today can alter the rest of our lives. So I felt it very important to come out here and vote."
Demetrius Winn, FSU freshman, 18 - Clinton
"I've always been a Democrat. I've always believed in Democrat ideals, so I'm sticking Democrat."
Polly Carlson, 46 - Trump
"He scares the s--- out of me. No kidding. But Hillary scares me more... I feel like I need a drink after that. This election has been the most brutal, painful, agonizing, sickening thing I've experienced in a very long time."
MacCall Carlson, Polly's daughter, 25 - Trump
"I almost didn't vote because I felt like I had to go in and vote for who I hated the least. But I went with Trump. I did sit there and ponder it for a minute and it was the last thing I ended up bubbling in. I don't like Donald Trump as a person but I agree with some of his stuff. I don't agree with anything that Hillary's going to do. It mostly came down to that."
4:04 p.m. - PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA
We all know Florida is crucial in the 2016 presidential campaign. Flash back to 2000, when the Sunshine State also was in the spotlight. That controversial election between Al Gore and George W. Bush is one answer to the trivia question below:
Question: How many times has a U.S. president been elected without winning the popular vote?
Answer: Four.
Chances are, you weren't alive for the other three elections. The link provides details.
A short history lesson on presidents winning without the popular vote
3:46 p.m. - UNOFFICIAL ELECTION RESULTS
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner said preliminary state election results will start being posted at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Although polls close at 7 p.m. across Florida, portions of the Panhandle are in the Central time zone.
County election results could come sooner, though, once precincts have ended voting and results are reported to the supervisor of elections.
2:42 p.m. - SKIRMISH IN BROWARD COUNTY
Two Broward County election workers were fired for violating professional standards when they responded to a disagreement between two poll watchers representing the Democratic and Republican parties.
"Since I wasn't there, all I can say is that they lacked the professionalism we maintain in our standards," said Broward County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Tonya Edwards. "But voting was not disrupted."
Broward County Republican Executive Committee lawyer Kevin Tynan said the Democratic poll watcher and the Republican poll watcher got into two disagreements about the place inside the polling center they could observe the polling process. County poll workers diffused the first incident, which occurred about 9 a.m. A second incident at 10:30 a.m. prompted the workers to summon the Broward County Sheriff's Office to the polling center.
“It had to do with where the poll watchers were standing and what they were looking at,” said Tynan, who looked into the incident on behalf of the party. “I think it could have been handled differently but the issue has been diffused.”
READ MORE: Broward elections workers fired; party officials told to leave
DOJ to monitor elections in Lee County and 66 other places in the U.S.
2:07 p.m. - VOTING FOR THEMSELVES
Although voting runs until the evening in most locales, three tiny communities in New Hampshire already have wrapped up their voting (Trump takes 32-25 lead in New Hampshire after midnight voting).
We also can confirm two additional votes: Trump voted for himself, and Clinton voted for herself. Clinton, along with her husband Bill, voted this morning in New York. Trump and his wife, Melania, later cast ballots at their precinct in the city.
Clinton calls voting for herself a 'most humbling feeling'
Donald Trump votes, does interviews and tweets on Election Day
Trump did not tweet a photo of himself voting, but running mate Mike Pence shared an image of himself at the polls.
1:33 p.m. - RUBIO VS. MURPHY
As late as Sunday, the U.S. Senate race between Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Patrick Murphy was considered comfortable for Rubio, who held a seven-point advantage based on RealClearPolitics' polling average.
Not so fast.
An updated polling average, which uses all publicly released polls, now shows Rubio at 48.6 percent to 45.4 percent for Murphy, a difference of just 3.2 percentage points. Murphy has noted the comeback on his social media pages.
1:05 p.m. - WHAT FLORIDIANS ARE SAYING
The USA TODAY Network has six properties in Florida, and reporters are out in full force today speaking with registered voters. This presidential campaign has been like no other, and a sampling of quotes gathered this morning indicates the level of fire voters have been feeling.
Sal Gonzalez, 51, of North Naples, voted for Trump: "I really don't lean either way, I try to pick the best choice. I'm not so sure we had a good choice this time."
Tim Liscum, 57, of Satellite Beach, voted for Clinton: “I’m not a big fan of Donald Trump just because of the divisiveness and the hate. Yeah, there needs to be some changes, but you can’t just insult people and ignore issues that are about people, just because you want to make some grandiose statement that fires everybody up but it doesn’t solve any problems.”
Bill Martin II, 65, of Cape Coral, voted for Trump: "I can't stand Hillary. Not because she's a lady at all; they should have used Joe Biden. Trump, he gives a damn."
Beverly Alens, 24, of Golden Gate Estates, voted for Clinton: "She didn't really earn my vote. I'm just voting against Trump."
Edward King, 93, of Rockledge: "I would characterize it as confusion; total confusion. They lie. They both lie. They all lie."
Bob DeMarco, 63, of Fort Myers: "I just wish the candidates would've been more professional and spent more time debating the issues. This election has sunk to a new low."
11:52 a.m. - FLORIDA'S ELECTORAL VOTES
Florida has 29 electoral votes, which are cast by members of the electoral college.
But what exactly is the electoral college? In Florida, the college's members are recommended by their political parties and nominated by the governor, but pledge to cast their votes for the popular vote winner, even if they don't personally support that particular candidate. And there is no political maneuvering to award, for instance, 15 votes to the leading vote-getter and 14 votes to the second-place finisher. In Florida, and 47 other states, electoral votes are all-or-nothing. That means either Clinton or Trump will take all 29 votes.
Could electors change their vote? Electoral College explained
READ MORE: 7 surprising things about the electoral college
Here is the Florida law that covers electoral college appointees.
10:42 a.m. - COUNTIES WITH MOST, LEAST EARLY TURNOUT
The USA TODAY Network-Florida has analyzed early voting totals for all 67 counties, and there definitely is a wide fluctuation across the state.
According to data available as of 10 a.m. today, Florida's overall turnout for early voters and those who voted by mail is 50.6 percent. Florida has 67 counties, and the eight counties with the highest early turnout either lean Republican or are heavy Republican.
Five Florida counties with the highest turnout:
- 1. Sumter: 70.7% (heavy Republican county)
- 2. Collier: 65.1% (heavy Republican)
- 3. Lee: 60.2% (heavy Republican)
- 4. Baker: 59.8% (leans Republican)
- 5. Seminole: 58.5% (leans Republican)
Five Florida counties with the lowest turnout:
- 67. Glades: 25.5% (heavy Democratic county)
- 66. Gilchrist: 36.8% (heavy Republican)
- 65. Hardee: 37.5% (leans Republican)
- 64. Hamilton: 37.5% (heavy Democrat)
- 63. Levy: 37.7% (heavy Republican)
8:36 a.m. - DEADLOCK OF ALL DEADLOCKS
According to the latest polling averages by RealClearPolitics, Trump has a 46.6 percent to 46.4 percent advantage over Clinton. Factoring in the margin of error, it's a dead heat.
Other than North Carolina, where polling shows a tie, Florida's 0.2 percentage point differential is the closest margin of any state. Perhaps that why we've seen more than 60 campaign stops in Florida by Trump and Clinton.
Elections 2016 Outlook: Florida
8:14 a.m. - CLINTON, TRUMP SLEEPING LATE?
Neither Clinton nor Trump have any public events until this evening. It's expected to be a late night as the presidential contenders wait for results to stream into their campaign headquarters.
While both disagree on many issues, Clinton and Trump agreed on one backdrop for their victory parties — New York City.
Clinton's "Hillary for America Election Night Event" will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, while the "Donald J. Trump Victory Party" will be held at the New York Hilton Midtown. About two miles separates the venues, with Times Square in the center.
7:29 a.m. - PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS
For those who haven't yet cast ballots, the following "Presidential Case Files" feature biographical information on the four leading candidates, along with where they stand on seven key issues.
7 a.m. - POLLS ARE OPEN!
The time has come. Go vote.
For the 49.5 percent of registered Florida voters who have yet to cast a ballot, every precinct will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot, even if they don't actually mark their choices until after the official cutoff time.
Florida is split into two time zones, so portions of the Panhandle in Central Standard Time won't complete their voting until an hour after voters in the peninsula. That time difference could prove crucial as the gap between Trump and Clinton is expected to be very small. As of Monday, a poll average from RealClearPolitics showed Trump with 46.6 percent to Clinton's 46.4 percent, essentially a dead heat.
According to USA TODAY: "Florida is one of the first states with polls to close, and — if recent elections are any guide — will be one of the last states to be called. That means election watchers could have one eye on the Sunshine State for much of the night."
6:34 a.m. - WHAT YOU NEED TO VOTE
Don't expect to show up with just a No. 2 pencil at your precinct and complete a ballot (poll workers provide pens).
All Florida voters must display a valid photo ID with a signature. The following are acceptable:
- Florida driver’s license
- Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
- United States passport
- Debit or credit card
- Military identification
- Student identification
- Retirement center identification
- Neighborhood association identification
- Public assistance identification
- Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06
- Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.
Voters who forget their ID still can vote with a provisional ballot. Responses count, but your signature will be compared to the signature on record with the elections office.
Find your precinct: Check your voter status
6:11 a.m. - HALF OF FLORIDA VOTERS HAVE CAST BALLOTS
Voter data updated Tuesday morning shows 6.5 million of Florida's 12.9 million voters already have cast their ballots, either through early voting at polling locations or vote-by-mail. That's 50.52 percent of all eligible voters.
More Republicans voted by mail, but more Democrats voted early at polling locations. Nearly 750,000 vote-by-mail ballots have yet to be returned.
As of this morning, here are early voting and vote-by-mail totals broken down by party.
- Republican: 2,499,306
- Democrat: 2,587,436
- Other: 156,284
- No Party Affiliation: 1,255,546
- Total: 6,498,572
Florida's early voting wrapping up; 6M have cast ballots
