Official Florida Primary Result Page (Bipartisan)

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Two primaries in the same state...let's try to keep it compact. Polls will close in  90 to 150 minutes.

[Verily]

Polls close at 6? That seems awfully early.

[VP Duke]

i think they close at 8....

[Meeker]

They close at 8, results probably start trickling in by 8:30

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Ah, I must have been confused. I must of say "8", intrepreted it at my time and thought it was really 6 EST, instead of 6 MST.

[Verily]

They close at 8, results probably start trickling in by 8:30

Makes much more sense. If this follows the usual pattern, we should know the Republican winner for near-certain by 9. Presumably, the Democratic contest will be obvious before then (if, by a fluke, it ends up close, the result will obviously be later).

[Mr. Morden]

According to the Green Papers, in 2006, Florida's polls closed at 7pm local time (meaning 7pm Eastern / 6 pm Central in the Eastern timezone part of the state, and 8pm Eastern / 7 pm Central in the Central timezone part of the state).  I thought the same would be happening this time, but I'll see if I can find definitive info.  In any case, the *last* polls in the state will close at 8pm Eastern / 7 pm Central.

[BushKenya]

They close at 8, results probably start trickling in by 8:30

Makes much more sense. If this follows the usual pattern, we should know the Republican winner for near-certain by 9. Presumably, the Democratic contest will be obvious before then (if, by a fluke, it ends up close, the result will obviously be later).

With as close as Florida seems to be between Romney and McCain, I don't expect to know the winner until 9:00 Central.  CNN has predicted it could be a long night.  I don't care about the Democratic race, since its no more than a beauty contest and the DNC has basically spotted the Republican Nominee 27 electoral votes come November.

[Inks.LWC Supports Chuck Hagel]

They close at 8, results probably start trickling in by 8:30

They close at 7 local time.  There are 14 counties that are in Central time, so results won't be released until 8 EST I'm assuming

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Hmmm... Anyways, do you think the exit polls will predict if it will be close or not?

[Mr. Morden]

Yeah, here's info from the Miami Herald that says polls are open until 7:

http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/home.asp

So I'm pretty sure they're open until 7pm local time throughout the state.

The networks won't release their exit polls or call a state until after all the polls in the state have closed, but my memory of the 2006 midterms says that a state itself will sometimes start releasing results from a few precincts before the polls have closed in other parts of the state.

[Mr. Morden]

Leaked exit poll results:

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODA5YmUxMTEwMDk1Y2ViMGMzOGFjNDRlOWI4NzU5YTg=

McCain 34.3%
Romney 32.6%
Giuliani 15.3%
Huckabee 12%

From the AP writeup:

    Given four choices, nearly half of Florida Republican primary voters said the economy is the most important issue facing the country. Terrorism, Iraq and immigration each were picked by fewer than two in 10. The economy also was the top issue out of three choices for voters in the Democratic primary, which none of the candidates contested because of questions over whether Florida's Democratic delegates will be seated. The economy has been seen as increasingly important since the start of the 2008 presidential nomination season.

    Eight in 10 Republican primary voters were white and a little more than one in 10 were Hispanic — about half of whom were of Cuban heritage. There were few blacks on the GOP side. In the Democratic primary, two-thirds were white, about one in five were black and a little more than one in 10 were Hispanic.

[Alaska Thunderfvck]

Leaked exit poll results:

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODA5YmUxMTEwMDk1Y2ViMGMzOGFjNDRlOWI4NzU5YTg=

McCain 34.3%
Romney 32.6%
Giuliani 15.3%
Huckabee 12%

From the AP writeup:

    Given four choices, nearly half of Florida Republican primary voters said the economy is the most important issue facing the country. Terrorism, Iraq and immigration each were picked by fewer than two in 10. The economy also was the top issue out of three choices for voters in the Democratic primary, which none of the candidates contested because of questions over whether Florida's Democratic delegates will be seated. The economy has been seen as increasingly important since the start of the 2008 presidential nomination season.

    Eight in 10 Republican primary voters were white and a little more than one in 10 were Hispanic — about half of whom were of Cuban heritage. There were few blacks on the GOP side. In the Democratic primary, two-thirds were white, about one in five were black and a little more than one in 10 were Hispanic.

If thats the case about the economy then Romney [technically] should do really well tonight.

[BushKenya]

One hour until the ET polls close.

[Mr. Morden]

FYI, according to pollster.com, "Tonight’s exit polls in Florida will include sample of interviews conducted by telephone among early voters, and those results will be weighted with the interviews conducted at polling places today to the best estimate available of absentee ballots as a percentage of all votes cast."

I don't know if these leaked exit poll results include those absentee / early voting numbers or not.

[Torie]

The leaked exit poll numbers do not include absentees, and Mitt's folks thought they had to win today's voters by 2%-3% to pull it out, because McCain had the lead with absentees. So if the numbers are right, Mitt is near to being on the ropes.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

Did anyone bother leaking the Democratic numbers?

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

The leaked exit poll numbers do not include absentees, and Mitt's folks thought they had to win today's voters by 2%-3% to pull it out, because McCain had the lead with absentees. So if the numbers are right, Mitt is near to being on the ropes.

Eh... maybe but it's still very close and who knows how accurate the exit polling really is.

Mitt better win though. If he loses tonight, McCain will almost certainly cream him on Super Tuesday.

[Alaska Thunderfvck]

MSNBC is releasing exit polls....47% think the econmy is the most important...with the war on terror coming in last at 13%.

69% of conservatives voted absentee, 46% were the elderly

[Ebowed]

Well, at least Giuliani will get some delegates?

[MasterJedi]

Come on McCain, just win this and hopefully Giuliani will drop out and you can go into Super Tuesday as strong as possible!

[BushKenya]

Well, at least Giuliani will get some delegates?

Nope, Florida is WTA.

[J. J.]

MaCain by a point is still my call.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

MSNBC is releasing exit polls....47% think the econmy is the most important...with the war on terror coming in last at 13%.

69% of conservatives voted absentee, 46% were the elderly

Romney should do pretty well if those numbers are accurate.

[Torie]

I think what was meant was that of those who voted absentee 69% were conservative, and 46% were elderly, which is only a bit older and more conservative than  the GOP electorate as a whole.