Population  (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Florida Secretary of State) Total Population, July 1, 2008 est. 18,328,340 Total Registration, Oct. 6, 2008 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%).  Florida has: 67 counties. Four counties over 1 million: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough. > Six cities over 200,000: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Hileah, Orlando.  (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale is the largest metropolitan area). > Government Governor: Charlie Crist (R) elected Nov. 2006. State Legislature: Florida Legislature   House: 120 seats  Senate: 40 seats Local: Counties, Cities  NACO Counties U.S. House: 16R, 9D - 1. J.Miller (R) | 2. A.Boyd (D) | 3. C.Brown (D) | 4. A.Crenshaw (R) | 5. V.Brown-Waite (R) | 6. C.Stearns (R) | 7. J.Mica (R) | 8. R.Keller (R) | 9. G.Bilirakis (R) | 10. C.W.B.Young (R) | 11. K.Castor (D) | 12. A.Putnam (R) | 13. V.Buchanan (R) | 14. C.Mack (R) | 15. D.Weldon (R) | 16. T.Mahoney (D) | 17. K.Meek (D) | 18. I.Ros-Lehtinen (R) | 19. R.Wexler (D) | 20. D.Wasserman Schultz (D) | 21. L.Diaz-Balart (R) | 22. R.Klein (D) | 23. A.Hastings (D) | 24. T.Feeney (R)  | 25. M.Diaz-Balart (R).  U.S. Senate: Bill Nelson (D) re-elected in 2006, Mel Martinez (R) elected in 2004.  2008 update U.S. House:  Three incumbent congressmen (2R, 1D) were defeated.  In the 8th CD (most of Orange County and parts of Osceola, Lake, and Marion Counties), Alan Grayson (D) defeated Rep. Ric Keller (R) by a margin of 52.0% to 48.0%.  In the 24th CD (parts of Brevard, Orange, Seminole, and Volusia Counties), realtor and former state Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D) defeated Rep. Tom Feeney (R) by 57.2% to 41.1%.  In the 16th CD (stretches from Port Charlotte to Port St. Lucie and includes the border of much of Lake Okeechobee), attorney Tom Rooney (R) trounced Rep. Tim Mahoney (D) after reports of Mahoney's affair broke.  In the 13th CD (Sarasota) rematch, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R) defeated Christine Jennings (D) by a comfortable margin.  In the race to succeed Rep. Dave Weldon (R) in the 15th CD (Vero Beach to Kissimmee), state Sen. Bill Posey (R) kept the seat in Republican hands, defeating Dr. Stephen Blythe (D) by a margin of 53.1% to 42.0% with 4.9% to two others.  Democrats' net gain of one U.S. House seat, brings the delegation from 16R, 9D to 15R, 10D for the 111th Congress.     > Democrats pick up two U.S. House seats; Republicans pick up one U.S. House seat.  MORE

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.) TV, Radio Politics1-FL Sayfie Review The Sunshine State

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

[Primary Election: August 31, 2004]

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

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