Florida Election Day Results
Current Florida voting results are announced when enough early, mail-in, and in person votes have been counted to accurately predict who the victor will be.
Election Day voting in Florida
Registered voters can choose to vote in person on election day in Florida. Federal elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1 in even years. Federal elections can be held no earlier than November 2 and no later than November 8.
Voters who choose to vote in person on election day must cast their ballot at the correct polling place. Voters must also provide a valid identification with their picture and signature on it. Those who do not have a valid identification will be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.
Voting early and by mail in Florida
Any registered voter in Florida can vote early in-person or request to vote by mail. Florida is one of thirteen states that processes votes cast early before election day, which gives election officials ample opportunity to certify election results in a timely manner in most elections.
Florida also publishes early voting results in real time, which gives the media and general population alike an opportunity to track results before and on election day.
Florida Governor, Senate, and House elections
Florida votes for governor every four years at the same time as midterm elections for the House and Senate. The governor serves a four year term and can serve two consecutive terms. There is no lifetime limit on the number of times a governor can be elected, but a governor must sit out at least one term before being able to run office again. Residents of Florida will vote for governor next in 2022 and then in 2026 and 2030.
Florida's two Senators are in class I and III. Voters in the state will next vote for a Senator in 2022 and 2024 and then again in 2028 and 2030. Each Senator is elected to a six-year term.
There are currently 27 U.S. Representatives serving in Congress from Florida, a number which may change after the 2020 census results are announced. Each Representative is elected to a two-year term.
Election day exit polls and declaring a winner
Major media organizations conduct exit polls throughout the state of Florida in order to get a general idea of where a race may be headed. In recent years, media organizations have combined exit polls with other traditional polling methods to factor in votes cast early by mail and in person.
The Associated Press and Reuters are the two main organizations who call local, state, and federal elections in Florida. Major media organizations and newspapers like CNN, ABC/NBC/CBS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and FiveThirtyEight work closely with them and also conduct their own exit polls in order to accurately report when a winner has been declared.
Early Voting and Election Polls
Florida allows early voting for all federal and state elections. Early voting starts a minimum of ten days before an election and ends three days before an election. In addition, supervisors of elections may offer additional early voting on the 15th, 14th, 13th, 12th, 11th, or 2nd day before an election.
All early voting locations must be determined a minimum of thirty days before early voting starts. Registered voters can vote early at any early voting location in their county during the predetermined hours they are open.
Every registered voter is also able to cast a mail-in ballot. Voters must request their mail-in ballot ahead of each election and the ballot must be received by election day.
Major national and local organizations conduct polls for President, Governor, Senators, and Congressmen. Some polls are conducted over landline and cellphones while others are conducted online.
Premiere Election polls
FiveThirtyEight
CNN
ABC/NBC/CBS
New York Times
Washington Post
Declaring a Winner
A winner is declared in Florida when it is clear a candidate has or will have more votes than any other candidate. Typically the winner will be called by The Associated Press and/or Reuters and then relayed to the American people by local and national media outlets.
Major Florida media outlets
The Tampa Bay Times
Orlando Sentinel
Sun Sentinel
Palm Beach Post
Miami Herold
National media outlets
CNN
ABC/NBC/CBS
New York Times
Washington Post
FiveThirtyEight
Florida Recount Rules
Florida law mandates a machine recount if the margin of an election is less than or equal to 0.5% votes. If the voting margin is less than or equal to 0.25% of total votes after the machine recount returns then a manual recount will occur.
Recounts are automatic and may not be requested by a candidate. Since they are automatic, recounts are paid for by the state of Florida.
If there is a recount, they will be held the fifth day after a primary election and the ninth day after a general or special election. If the machine recount does not determine a winner then the manual recount must start the seventh day after a primary election and the twelfth day after a general or special election.
Candidates may also file a state or federal lawsuit if they feel state or federal laws were violated during the course of an election. Most election related lawsuits are settled before an election takes place, but there are occasions when the courts have gotten involved, most notoriously during the 2000 Presidential election when the U.S. Supreme Court intervened and effectively stopped a recount taking place in Florida and delivering the Presidency to George W. Bush.