Has Florida been finalized?

[rareboy]

Every result I am seeing has Obama at 306 and Romney at 203 leaving the 29 votes for Florida unallocated?

Is this still true?

Are the guys going to mud wrestle naked for these last EC votes?

[CoolBlue71]

It would help if President Obama carries Florida by at least a full percentage point. Otherwise, it triggers a recount of the state. Historically, recounts usually end up prevailing for the candidate who initially lead the respective race. So, in other words, I'm saying that President Obama will carry Florida and its 29 electoral votes. Total will be Barack Obama's 332 vs. 206 for Mitt Romney. (And, of course, Fla. would net a total of 20 of the last 22 election cycles, starting in 1928 but minus 1960 and 1992, with having carried for the presidential winner. An outstanding record!)

[maxpowr9]

We won't hear anything for at least a week. Provisional ballots are not tallied until a week after the election in Florida (I dunno why. I assume a stupid law). I doubt that would help Romney much but that is what the holdout is.

[Kulindahr]

We won't hear anything for at least a week. Provisional ballots are not tallied until a week after the election in Florida (I dunno why. I assume a stupid law). I doubt that would help Romney much but that is what the holdout is.

It's to give time to be sure all the 'ordinary' ballots are counted and certified -- it allows time for any little issues to be ironed out. In the few years I watched the counting going on here, physically, in the Court House, there weren't many that needed any review, but there were some. One year, though, bad weather kept several ballot boxes from being delivered to the Court House for central tallying for two days, and that's the sort of the most of those laws reflect: the time involved in getting the ballots centrally gathered and certified. They started becoming a bit outmoded with the automobile and decent roads, and now seem truly outmoded with our electronic communications, but every now and then they're still helpful (if nothing else, they give elections officials a brief break).

[palbert]

Miami-Dade is even now still counting absentee ballots Wednesday evening:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/0...lots-left.html

On Wednesday evening, elections workers continued feeding thousands of pages of ballots into scanning machines — and they were not expected to finish until later in the night, leaving a much-mocked blank spot on the long decided electoral map.

Earlier in the day, the county said 20,000 absentee ballots still needed to be counted. The office of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued a news release insisting that the “unprecedented length of the ballot” represents “over 100,000 pages that need to be reviewed and verified, one by one.”

[Kulindahr]

I just heard on NBC that people who didn't get to vote last night but were there waiting got to vote this morning. Voters had some rather pointed opinions on the whole business.

[BillyT]

The problem in Florida is that the Republican party has been running the legislature for years and they cut early voting from 2 weeks to 1 week only because Democrats vote earlier than Republicans. The second problem is that too many people wait till election day to vote instead of doing it early. The third problem this year was that there was 10 state admendments on the ballot and alot of people don't read up on them in advance and spend time in the booth to try to understand them.

[T-Rexx]

It's kinda remarkable that Florida can't seem to conduct an election.

Two days after our national election, we still don't know where Florida stands. Same as 2000.

[rareboy]

^ At least this time...Florida doesn't matter a damn.

But in the eyes of the rest of the world.....the state does appear once again to be both inept and corrupt when it comes to federal elections.

[T-Rexx]

At least this time...Florida doesn't matter a damn.

Therein lies the tragedy. That it is necessary for Florida not to matter a damn in order for us to conduct a national election.

[palbert]

Miami-Dade vote will not be known until sometime Thursday:

The county’s beleaguered elections supervisor told reporters Wednesday night that her employees, still processing thousands of absentee ballots, won’t finish until Thursday.
....
Earlier Wednesday, the county had said 20,000 absentee ballots still needed to be counted. The office of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued a news release insisting that the “unprecedented length of the ballot” represents “over 100,000 pages that need to be reviewed and verified, one by one.”
....
The elections office must also count all provisional ballots by 5 p.m. Thursday. White said she did not know the total number of provisional ballots.
....

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/0...#storylink=cpy

[justdra]

Fuck Dick Scott and the leaders of FL. They tried all they could and shit still didn't go their way but I bet they will want credit for trying when they have their get togethers. Finally they are becoming irrelevant.

[Kulindahr]

Early voting should be several weeks not just one week. But the republicans would never go for that. Plus I hear in Miami there were only 15 locations... that's absolutely disgusting. Republicans know they are fighting a losing battle in Florida. Democrats have 500,000+ more people registered in Florida. The republicans are grabbing onto the straws.

No rules for voting should be allowed that the official decreeing them wouldn't be willing to follow wearing tightie whitey undies.

I think that would cut the waiting time to vote down under ten minutes.

[Kulindahr]

Therein lies the tragedy. That it is necessary for Florida not to matter a damn in order for us to conduct a national election.

[Corny]

Therein lies the tragedy. That it is necessary for Florida not to matter a damn in order for us to conduct a national election.

German media already cracks joke about "demokratische wahlen der herzen" (democratic nation of the hearts .. usually it used with "winner of the hearts" and means someone who isn't really a winner, but people like him).

[palbert]

Update: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/0...ng-delays.html

Miami-Dade elections workers counted a final batch of 500 absentees Thursday morning, after pulling an all-nighter.
....
"Generally, I think Miami-Dade County conducted a very good election," Townsley told reporters at the elections office in Doral, as she deflected questions about long lines and voting delays at the polls.
....
The three other big Florida counties -- Broward, Palm Beach and Duval -- are still tabulating their absentees.(e.s.)
....
Townsley said the county's total election results -- including provisional ballots that still must be counted -- will be completed by Friday.(e.s.) ....

The article also said Miami-Dade had 514 polling places (not 15).

[palbert]

At 3:40 PM ET Yahoo reported that Romney was conceding Florida.

[rareboy]

332 - 206

Party on.

[Telstra]

.
Someone should be punished for that states shocking long waiting lines

[TX-Beau]

The problem is that voters in FL would have to do that.

[palbert]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2094513.html

Mitt Romney's campaign said that President Barack Obama won the state of Florida in the race for the White House.

The Miami Herald reports that Romney adviser Brett Doster said in a statement, "The numbers in Florida show this was winnable," and added, "We thought based on our polling and range of organization that we had done what we needed to win. Obviously, we didn’t, and for that I and every other operative in Florida has a sick feeling that we left something on the table. I can assure you this won’t happen again."

[maxpowr9]

Romney conceded Florida early this afternoon. Not surprised since he already conceded the election.

That makes the final tally 332-206, exactly what Nate Silver predicted.

Mitt Romney Campaign: We Lost Florida To Obama In Presidential Election

According to state officials, Obama leads Romney 49.9 percent (or 4,180,697 votes) to 49.24 percent (or 4,124,865 votes)—a margin of 55,832 votes—with more than 97 percent of the vote counted. If the final margin is within a half percentage point, there would be an automatic recount.

[T-Rexx]

Florida has now officially been called for Obama.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...usaolp00000003

[frankfrank]

Has ARIZONA been called yet, in all of their races? What about the Congresscritter who will replace Gabby Giffords? The last I heard, the two in that race are almost tied, and the last I heard, Aridzone still had hundreds of thousands of votes not counted yet.

It's disgraceful that the United States, which is supposed to be the most modern large nation in the world, has an election system which is no better than what one would find in Central America, or a sub-Saharan country.