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Florida Elections Running Smoothly
11/04/08 - 04:02 PM

Associated Press

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Voting across Florida is going well and it has been a good day at the polls so far, according to Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

Browning says he has not received reports of any widespread voting problems and that’s a good sign. He says if Florida’s election were going to turn into a mess, he thinks he would already know it by now.

There are reports of very long lines at a University of South Florida precinct where students tried to make a lot of address changes and hundreds of voters in Hillsborough County received an incomplete ballot that was missing a page. Browning says his staff has contacted the Hillsborough elections office about that problem, but he says ultimately the ballot’s layout is the responsibility of the supervisor.

Browning describes turnout as medium to heavy. He predicts about five million people will cast ballots in about 7,000 precincts across Florida today.

Browning says he would not be surprised to see the final numbers meet or exceed the 83 percent turnout in Florida in 1992.

One precinct in Manatee County experienced a power outage, so voters were allowed to cast ballots outside the facility as mandated by the county’s emergency plan. Browning praises the county for having such a plan and implementing it smoothly. Power has since been restored.

The polls are open until 7 o’clock in Florida in both the Eastern and Central time zones. Browning says any voter standing in line at 7 o’clock will be allowed to cast a ballot even if that forces the polling site to close late.
   
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)