TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Despite record numbers of mail ballots and early voting, Florida’s secretary of state said the state saw medium to high turnout on Election Day.
She said the election went smoothly here, but there were isolated issues.
Recommended Videos
The Trump campaign was hoping to see a red wave of in-person voting on Election Day, and with the state seeing medium to high turnout despite the fact 9 million voters had already cast their ballot, it appears that’s come to fruition.
“We got up to over 200,000-plus net voters that were Republican, so to do that, we had to have great turnout today,” said Republican Party of Florida Chairman of Chairs Evan Power.
Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee reported the state’s election systems were not compromised by cyberattacks and called the election a success.
“And what we have seen today is an example of incredible teamwork between Florida’s voters, our poll workers and our supervisors of elections,” Lee said.
But voting wasn’t easy for everyone.
Broward County voter Trey Jenkins said that when his ID was scanned at his precinct, he was told he had already voted.
“I was, like, ‘Well, I haven’t submitted a mail ballot. I didn’t get a mail in ballot,’” said Jenkins.
He said that after waiting about an hour for the issue to be sorted out, he was told a computer error was at fault and he was allowed to cast a ballot.
“I think it’s really important to vote. It’s one of the few freedoms that we get in the United States that’s really important to me, so that’s why I decided to stick it out,” said Jenkins.
Overall, Lee said her office fielded 1,600 calls for voter assistance throughout the day, but she said, like in Jenkins' case, elections supervisors were able to sort out the issues to allow every eligible voter to cast a ballot.
Lee also noted voters were well mannered and respectful at the polls. She encouraged civility no matter the final results.