FLORIDA 29 Electoral Votes 
link to clickable map
Florida goes from 27 electoral votes to 29 as a result of reapportionment following the 2010 Census
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Florida Secretary of State)
Total Resident Population, July 1, 2012 est.
19,317,568
Total Registration, Oct. 9, 2012
11,934,446
Dem. 4,781,978 (40.07%)   Rep. 4,245,991 (35.58%)   No Pty Aff. 2,572,901 (21.56%)   Minor 333,576 (2.80%)
Florida has 67 counties.
Five counties over 1 million: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange. >
Six cities over 200,000: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hileah.  (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale is the largest metropolitan area). >

Government
Governor: Rick Scott (R) elected in 2010. 
State Legislature: Florida Legislature   House: 120 seats  Senate: 40 seats
Local: Counties, Cities  NACO Counties
U.S. House: 19R, 6D - 1. J.Miller (R) | 2. S,Southerland (R) | 3. C.Brown (D) | 4. A.Crenshaw (R) | 5. R.Nugent (R) | 6. C.Stearns (R) | 7. J.Mica (R) | 8. D.Webster (R) | 9. G.Bilirakis (R) | 10. C.W.B.Young (R) | 11. K.Castor (D) | 12. D.Ross (R) | 13. V.Buchanan (R) | 14. C.Mack (R) | 15. B.Posey (R) | 16. T.Rooney (R) | 17. F.Wilson (D) | 18. I.Ros-Lehtinen (R) | 19. T.Deutch (D) | 20. D.Wasserman Schultz (D) | 21. M.Diaz-Balart (R) | 22. A.West (R)  | 23. A.Hastings (D) | 24. S.Adams (R) | 25. D.Rivera (R)
U.S. Senate: Bill Nelson (D) re-elected in 2012, Marco Rubio (R) elected in 2010. 
2012
U.S. Senate: Sen. Bill Nelson (D) won a third term, defeating Rep. Connie Mack IV (R) by 55.2% to 42.2%.
U.S. House: Due to reapportionment, Florida's House delegation increased from 25 to 27 Members.  Two Members were defeated in primaries (Reps. Stearns and Adams).  Florida sent seven new Members to Washington (3R and 4D): 3. Ted Yoho (R), 6. Ron Desantis (R), 9. Alan Grayson (D), 18. Patrick Murphy (D), 19. Trey Radel (R), 22. Lois Frankel (D) and 26. Joe Garcia (D) [new district numbers].  The balance shifted from 19R, 6D to 17R, 10D.

State Legislature: Republicans had more than 2 to 1 majorities in both chambers (Senate 28R, 12D and House 81R, 38D and 1v).  All seats were up.  Democrats made a handful of gains; the balance shifted to 26R, 14D in the Senate and 74R-46D in the House.
Ballot Measures: Florida voters faced a challenging array of 11 constitutional amendments, and defeated eight of them.

 State of Florida
Secretary of State

Constitution Party of FL
FL Democratic Party
Green Party of FL
Libertarian Party of FL
Republican Party of FL

Miami Herald
St. Petersburg Times
Media (Newsp.), 2
TV, Radio

SPT-The Buzz
Sayfie Review
FLA Politics

Politics1-FL
Ballotpedia-FL



The Sunshine State
General Election -- Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voter Registration Deadline: October 9, 2012.
Early Voting: October 27-November 3, 2012 (tenth day before Election Day to the Saturday before Election Day).

Total registration: 11,934,446.

-More than 2.4 million early votes were cast.
-Nearly 2.4 million absentee votes were cast.

Official Results >


Romney/Ryan (Rep.)
4,163,447
(49.13)
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
4,237,756
(50.01)
Stevens/Link (Obj.)
3,856
(0.05)
Johnson/Gray (Lib.)
44,726
(0.53)
Goode/Clymer (Const.)
2,607
(0.03)
Stein/Honkala (Grn.)
8,947
(0.11)
Barr/Sheehan (PFP)
8,154
(0.10)
Anderson/Rodriguez (JPF)
1,754
(0.02)
4 others with <1000 votes each*
2,887
(0.03)
Write Ins (6)
45

Total........8,474,179


*Barnett/Cross (Ref.) 820.  Alexander/Mendoza (Soc.) 799.  Lindsay/Osorio (PSL) 322.  Hoefling/Ellis (AIP) 946

Turnout: 8,538,264.
Overview: Florida was again a hotly contested battleground state, and indeed was the last state to be called by news organizations.  Out of 8.47 million votes tallied in the presidential race, the Obama-Biden ticket won by a plurality of just 74,309 votes (0.88 percentage points).  Obama-Biden carried 13 counties to 54 for McCain-Palin.
General Election Details
Obama  |  Romney
BALLOT [PDF]


[State Primary: August 14, 2012]
Presidential Preference Primary Election -- Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Main Florida Primary Page


General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 12,426,633.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 67.5%.

According to county early voting reports compiled by the Secretary of State, 2,610,308 Floridians voted early (30.88% of turnout).

Total Registration: 11,247,634.
Dem. 4,722,076 (41.98%)   Rep. 4,064,301 (36.13%)   No Pty Aff. 2,103,119 (18.70%)  Other Parties 358,138 (3.18%)



Official Results >


McCain/Palin (Rep.)
4,045,624
(48.22)
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
4,282,074
(51.03)
La Riva/Puryear (S&L)
1,516
(0.02)
Baldwin/Castle (Const.)
7,915 (0.09)
Barr/Root (Lib.)
17,218
(0.21)
McKinney/Clemente (Grn.)
2,887
(0.03)
Keyes/Rohrbough (AIP)
2,550
(0.03)
Nader/Gonzalez (Eco.)
28,124
(0.34)
6 others with <1000 votes each*
2,836
(0.03)
Total........8,390,744


*Amondson/Pletten (Pro.) 293, Stevens/Link (Obj.) 419, Harris/Kennedy (SWP) 533, Moore/Alexander (Soc.) 405, Jay/Smith (BTP) 795, Nettles/Krones (w/in) 391

Total ballots: 8,453,743.
2008 Overview
From a plurality of 380,978 votes (5.01 percentage points) for Bush-Cheney in 2004, Florida switched to the Democrats, giving the Obama-Biden ticket a plurality of 236,450 votes (3.19 percentage points).  Obama-Biden carried 15 counties to 52 for McCain-Palin.
General Election Details
Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies Nader

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population: 11,811,921.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 64.4%.

Of 7,646,092 total votes cast:

Ballots on Election Day
4,865,283
(63.6%)
Absentee Ballots
1,352,447
(17.7%)
At Early Voting Sites
1,428,362
(18.7%)

In addition:
27,742 people cast provisional ballots
10,007 provisional ballots were counted
 
Total Registration: 10,301,290.

Registration Deadline: Oct. 4, 2004.
Early voting: Started Oct. 18, 2004.

(SoS: "The 2004 Legislature passed legislation which standardizes early voting throughout the state...all supervisors will begin conducting early voting in their main and branch offices 15 days before the election.")
Official Results

+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
3,964,522
(52.10)
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)
3,583,544
(47.09)
Peroutka/Baldwin (Const.) 6,626 (0.09)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 11,996
(0.16)
Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.)
3,917
(0.05)
Harris/Trowe (SWP)
2,732
(0.04)
Brown/Hebert (Soc.)
3,502
(0.05)
Nader/Camejo (Ref.)
32,971
(0.43)
Total........7,609,810
 




2004 Overview
There were no post-election dramatics this time, as Bush-Cheney won the Sunshine State with a plurality of 380,978 votes (5.01 percentage points), carrying 56 counties to 11 for Kerry.  About 1.5 million more votes were cast than in 2000.
General Election Details  |  Photos
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush/Cheney '04

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population: 10,667,193.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 55.9%.

Total Registration: 8,752,717.

All told about 6.1 million people cast ballots in Florida.  According to the Florida Task Force report there were 179,855 blank or spoiled ballots; this includes uncertified results from 3 counties.  The Miami Herald, in its post-election analysis, examined 176,087 uncounted ballots: 111,261 overvotes and 64,826 undervotes, while.  USA Today examined 171,908 untabulated ballots: 111,261 overvotes and 60,647 undervotes.  The Florida Ballots Project suggests a total of around 172,000.  However, all these numbers depend on what is counted.  For example in some of the larger counties there were "trays and trays" of absentee ballots where, for example, the signatures didn't match, that didn't get counted.
Official Results


+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,912,790
 (48.85)
Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
2,912,253
(48.84)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
16,415
(0.28)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
97,488
(1.63)
Harris/Trowe (SWP)
562
(0.00)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)
2,281
(0.04)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
17,484
 (0.29)
McReynolds/Hollis (Soc.)
622
(0.00)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
1,371
(0.02)
Moorehead/LaRiva(WWP)
1,804
(0.03)
Chote/Lancaster (w/in)
34
McCarthy/Beifus (w/in)
6
  - 
Total........5,963,110


Overview
It took a 36-day post-election odyssey to finalize the outcome, but Gov. Bush officially won Florida by 537 votes.  The election was decided as much in the courts as at the polls (Battle for Florida), and there will always be doubts in some people's minds about who won.  Bush carried 51 counties and the federal absentee ballots, while Vice President Gore won in 16 counties.  The Democrats' base in Florida is in the southeast (Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade), while Republicans fared well in rural counties. Thus in many ways the race came down to the I-4 corridor, which runs across central Florida from Tampa Bay through Orlando to Daytona Beach. 
General Election Activity

1992 and 1996 General Elections

1992
Bush (Rep.)........2,173,310
(40.89)
Clinton (Dem.).....2,072,798
(39.00)
Perot (Ind.) .........1,053,067
(19.82)
Others (1+w/ins)......15,317
(0.29)
Total........5,314,492
1996
Clinton (Dem.).....2,546,870
(48.02)
Dole (Rep.)..........2,244,536
(42.32)
Perot (Ref.)............483,870
(9.12)
Others (1+w/ins)......28,518
(0.54)
Total........5,303,794
Archive Pages: 2008 | 2004 | 2000