United States presidential election, 2004, in Florida

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Elections in Florida

gubernatorial elections:
2006


special elections:
n/a


other elections:
2004 presidential election in FL
2006 United States Senate election
Jacksonville mayoral election, 2007

Florida was under the national spotlight prior the 2004 Presidential election, being the swing state with the largest number of electoral votes (27), and with the memory of the controversy surrounding the 2000 Florida vote still fresh in the minds of voters. Polls throughout the campaign indicated that Florida was too close to call, prompting concerns about a repeat of the 2000 fiasco. However, the high popularity of Republican George W. Bush's brother, Governor Jeb Bush, contributed to a relatively comfortable victory for Bush, by a margin of 5% over his Democratic rival, John Kerry.

While the South Florida metropolitan area mostly voted for Kerry, the other parts of the states mainly supported Bush, being culturally closer to the rest of the southern United States than to Miami, home to large Hispanic and Jewish populations, as well as retirees and transplants from the largely liberal Northeastern United States.

Bush's margin of victory in several counties topped 70%, particularly in the Florida Panhandle. Bush also won a signifcant number of heavily populated and fast-growing areas including the Jacksonville area, the entire Tampa Bay area, Southwest Florida, suburban Orlando, the Space Coast, Ocala, and so forth.

Presidential Candidate Running Mate Party Electoral Vote (EV) Popular Vote (PV)
While Kerry won the Miami metropolitan area, Bush carried most of the rest of the state.
Enlarge
While Kerry won the Miami metropolitan area, Bush carried most of the rest of the state.
George W. Bush of Conneticut Richard Cheney of Wyoming Republican 27 3,964,522 52.10%
John Kerry of Massachusetts John Edwards of North Carolina Democrat 0 3,583,544 47.09%
Ralph Nader of Connecticut Peter Miguel Camejo of California Independent, Reform 0 32,971 0.43%
Others - - 0 28,773 0.38%
Other elections: 2000, 2004, 2008

See main article: U.S. presidential election, 2004.

[edit] Controversies

A chart comparing the final exit poll in Florida with the vote count
A chart comparing the final exit poll in Florida with the vote count

During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, numerous allegations of irregularities were made concerning the voting process in Florida. These allegations included missing and uncounted votes, machine malfunction, and a lack of correlation between the vote count and exit polling. Additionally, 58,000 absentee postal vote forms were lost in Broward County; Broward County is heavily Democrat, and Democratic Party officials accused the Republican state government of trying to "steal the election".

Holmes County was pointed to an example of unusual voting patterns: three-quarters of registered voters in Holmes County are Democrats; however, Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry in Holmes County by a large margin (6,410 to 1,810). It was alleged that this phenomenon was correlated to the use of optical scanning machines. [1]

In many counties, more votes were registered than there were voters in the county, adding up to a total of 268,169 overvotes. [2] Bush supporters responded by suggesting that even with 100% support for Kerry, the combined total of all overvotes and missing votes could not have overcome Bush's margin of victory in the state, which was 377,509 votes.

[edit] Results by county

County John F. Kerry George W. Bush Others
Alachua 56.1% 62,504 42.9% 47,762 1.0% 1,062
Baker 21.9% 2,180 77.7% 7,738 0.4% 37
Bay 28.1% 21,068 71.2% 53,404 0.7% 552
Bradford 29.9% 3,244 69.6% 7,557 0.5% 54
Brevard 41.6% 110,309' 57.7% 153,068 0.8% 2,085
Broward 64.2% 453,873 34.6% 244,674 1.2% 8,325
Calhoun 35.5% 2,116 63.4% 3,782 1.1% 65
Charlotte 42.9% 34,256 55.7% 44,428 1.4% 1,102
Citrus 42.1% 29,277 56.9% 39,500 1.0% 690
Clay 23.3% 18,971 76.2% 62,078 0.5% 446
Collier 34.1% 43,892 65.0% 83,631 0.9% 1,160
Columbia 32.1% 8,031 67.1% 16,758 0.8% 202
DeSoto 41.1% 3,913 58.1% 5,524 0.8% 73
Dixie 30.4% 1,960 68.8% 4,434 0.7% 48
Duval 41.6% 158,610 57.8% 220,190 0.6% 2,261
Escambia 33.7% 48,329 65.3% 93,566 1.0% 1,383
Flagler 48.3% 18,578 51.0% 19,633 0.7% 269
Franklin 40.5% 2,401 58.5% 3,472 1.0% 58
Gadsden 69.7% 14,629 29.8% 6,253 0.5% 102
Gilchrist 28.8% 2,017 70.4% 4,936 0.9% 62
Glades 41.0% 1,718 58.3% 2,443 0.6% 27
Gulf 33.1% 2,407 66.0% 4,805 0.9% 65
Hamilton 44.5% 2,260 55.0% 2,792 0.5% 27
Hardee 29.6% 2,149 69.7% 5,049 0.7% 51
Hendry 40.5% 3,960 58.9% 5,757 0.6% 58
Hernando 46.2% 37,187 52.9% 42,635 0.9% 725
Highlands 37.0% 15,347 62.4% 25,878 0.7% 271
Hillsborough 46.2% 214,132 53.0% 245,576 0.8% 3,514
Holmes 21.8% 1,810 77.3% 6,412 0.9% 78
Indian River 39.0% 23,956 60.1% 36,938 0.8% 520
Jackson 38.1% 7,555 61.2% 12,122 0.7% 130
Jefferson 55.3% 4,135 44.1% 3,298 0.6% 45
Lafayette 25.4% 845 74.0% 2,460 0.6% 20
Lake 38.9% 48,221 60.0% 74,389 1.1% 1,340
Leon 61.5% 83,873 37.8% 51,615 0.7% 891
Lee 39.0% 93,860 59.9% 144,176 1.1% 2,631
Levy 36.5% 6,074 62.5% 10,410 1.0% 168
Liberty 35.4% 1,070 63.8% 1,927 0.8% 24
Madison 48.8% 4,050 50.5% 4,191 0.8% 63
Manatee 42.7% 61,262 56.6% 81,318 0.7% 1,041
Marion 41.0% 57,271 58.2% 81,283 0.8% 1,123
Martin 41.7% 30,208 57.1% 41,362 1.2% 883
Miami-Dade 52.9% 409,732 46.6% 361,095 0.5% 3,899
Monroe 49.7% 19,654 49.2% 19,467 1.0% 414
Nassau 26.2% 8,573 72.6% 23,783 1.2% 387
Okaloosa 21.6% 19,368 77.6% 69,693 0.8% 695
Oskeechobee 42.3% 5,153 57.2% 6,978 0.5% 59
Orange 49.8% 193,354 49.6% 192,539 0.6% 2,151
Osceola 47.0% 38,633 52.5% 43,117 0.6% 454
Palm Beach 60.4% 328,687 39.1% 212,688 0.6% 3,247
Pasco 44.4% 84,749 54.1% 103,230 1.5% 2,937
Pinellas 49.5% 225,460 49.6% 225,686 0.9% 4,211
Polk 40.8% 86,009 58.6% 123,559 0.6% 1,262
Putnam 40.1% 12,412 59.1% 18,311 0.8% 250
Saint Johns 30.6% 26,399 68.6% 59,196 0.8% 695
Saint Lucie 51.8% 51,835 47.6% 47,592 0.6% 636
Santa Rosa 21.8% 14,659 77.3% 52,059 0.9% 589
Sarasota 45.2% 88,442 53.5% 104,692 1.3% 2,518
Seminole 41.3% 76,971 58.1% 108,172 0.6% 1,052
Sumter 36.4% 11,584 62.2% 19,800 1.4% 458
Suwanee 28.6% 4,522 70.6% 11,153 0.8% 127
Taylor 35.5% 3,049 63.7% 5,467 0.8% 65
Union 26.8% 1,251 72.6% 3,396 0.6% 28
Volusia 50.5% 115,519 48.9% 111,924 0.7% 1,496
Wakulla 41.6% 4,896 57.6% 6,777 0.8% 90
Walton 25.9% 6,213 73.2% 17,555 0.9% 208
Washington 28.1% 2,912 71.1% 7,369 0.8% 85

[edit] External links