The polls might have closed, but that doesn't mean the headache of election 2012 is over yet. 49 states have tallied their votes, effectively winning a second presidential term for Barack Obama. Now, the whole nation once again waits on Florida.
With its 29 electoral votes still unassigned, Florida will be the last state to officially be called. Although, the results will still likely come out in Obama's favor. As numerous sources indicate, Obama is likely to win that state as well. Nov. 7 Obama lead in Florida by over 62,000 votes (50 percent to 49 percent) with 92 percent of precincts reporting. Obama will also likely increase his lead once more precincts from the Democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade County report.
With 97 percent of the vote reported Nov. 8, President Barack Obama has earned 4,143,364 votes, edging out Mitt Romney's 4,096,351.
If Obama wins Florida as many predict, The President will take a 332-206 lead in the Electoral College.
Miami-Dade county Election officials reportedly worked overnight Nov. 7 to count the county's outstanding ballots and they still have 500 left, said election officials on Nov. 8.
Once those votes are counted, the process of counting the provisional ballots will begin, Penelope Townsley, supervisor of election for Miami-Dade County, told reporters. Townsley expects all absentee and provisional ballots will be fully counted by Friday afternoon.
"This is simply a matter of sheer volume," said Townsley. "We're dealing with a tremendous amount of paper. We will continue this process, it will be completed, but it will be done so with integrity and accuracy. And every vote will be counted."
According to CNN, Florida, and Miami-Dade County in particular, were plagued by long lines at the polls. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez called the voting issues "a perfect storm," in an interview with CNN.
"Without a doubt we had some operational issues that we have got to take care of," said Gimenez. "We had the longest ballot in Florida history. It probably took voters two and a half times longer to vote individually than they had last time."
Gimenez says he plans to convene a special panel to further look into these election issues, including how the county could implement more early voting.
"We also had fewer days of early voting," Gimenez said. "That was changed by the state legislator and signed into law by the governor. We need to expand early voting hours again like we had in the past. We also need to expand the number of early voting sites."
Miami-Dade County Election department spokeswoman, Carolina Lopez, told reporters Nov. 8 in Doral, Florida, that her department worked overnight to process all the 21,500 absentee ballots. Those ballots will be "processed very shortly," she said.
"I believe that when you're the largest county in the state of Florida, history will put all eyes on us," Lopez said. "But the important thing is just to keep on, giving the best performance that we can, providing accurate results so that they're not scrutinized later. I think when it's all said and done, our 1.3-million registered voters will have solid results and we can move past the presidential election."