VOTE 2020

Monday is the last day to register to vote in the upcoming May election in Duval County. The big item on the ballot is the runoff in Jacksonville’s mayoral race between Republican Daniel Davis and Democrat Donna Deegan.

News4JAX spoke with voters Wednesday as Democrat candidate for governor Charlie Crist came through Jacksonville to meet with people on the Westside.

The Nov. 8 midterm election will be here before we know it.

Florida’s Primary Election is August 23 which is also the same day the City of Jacksonville will hold a special election to see who will be the city’s next sheriff.

Florida’s Primary Election is August 23 which is also the same day the City of Jacksonville will hold a special election to see who will be the city’s next sheriff.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida and Georgia’s lawmakers sounded off, following Wednesday afternoon’s siege on Capitol Hill by President Trump’s supporters. Senator Marco Rubio tweet in opposition of the violent protest, saying:There is nothing patriotic about what is occurring on Capitol Hill. — Rep. John Rutherford (@RepRutherfordFL) January 6, 2021News4Jax spoke with Congressman Rutherford last night before the certification proceedings resumed. he said despite the violent events that took place on Capitol Hill, he still planned to object to President-elect Joe Biden’s certification. Senator Loeffler was defeated in one of two historic Senate runoff races on January 5th.

The same thing nearly happened in Florida during the 2000 recount. A resolution was proposed to appoint electors for president and vice president who would be ordered to vote for a specific candidate. John McKay was the Senate president at the time. What nearly happened in Florida 20 years ago likely would have set a precedent for today’s legislatures in contested states. And the window for any state legislatures to vote is narrowing.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and his allies are taking increasingly frantic steps to subvert the results of the 2020 election, including summoning state legislators to the White House as part of a longshot bid to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. Election law experts see it as the last, dying gasps of the Trump campaign and say Biden is certain to walk into the Oval Office come January. But there has been no evidence of impropriety or fraud in Michigan, election officials have said. But election officials across the country have said repeatedly there was no widespread fraud. In northwestern Arizona, Mohave County officials postponed their certification.

ATLANTA – A second Georgia county has uncovered a trove of votes not previously included in election results, but the additional votes won’t change the overall outcome of the presidential race, the secretary of state’s office said Tuesday. Election officials on Monday said Floyd County, in north Georgia, had found more than 2,500 ballots that hadn’t been previously scanned. Both counties will have to recertify their results, and the margin between Trump and Biden will be about 13,000 votes when those previously uncounted votes are accounted for, Sterling said. The audit was done on a random sample of voting machines from Cobb, Douglas, Floyd, Morgan, Paulding and Spalding counties. The equipment tested included the touchscreen voting machines, precinct scanners and absentee ballot scanners.

ATLANTA – A hand tally of the presidential race in Georgia has turned up more than 2,500 votes in one county that weren’t previously counted, but election officials said Monday that isn’t expected to alter the overall outcome of the race. County election board Chairman Tom Rees said it appears the roughly 2,500 ballots were cast during in-person early voting but election officials weren’t sure how they were missed. But the county had the paper ballots and caught the problem during the hand tally, he said. County election officials were instructed to start the count by 9 a.m. last Friday and to finish it by 11:59 p.m. this Wednesday. Raffensperger acknowledged last week that the hand tally would be a “heavy lift” for the counties.

Election workers in teams of two began counting ballots Friday in counties across Georgia, a hand tally of the presidential race that stems from an audit required by a new state law. Across the state, audit teams worked with batches of paper ballots, dividing them into piles for each candidate, before counting each pile by hand. Glynn County Board of Elections Presidential Ballot Recount Day 1 Glynn County Board of Elections Presidential Ballot Recount. The county elections department has been hard hit by the coronavirus. But critics have accused him of caving to Trump after the president’s campaign and state Republicans requested a hand recount.

“There’s a way that we can rein all this in,” said Dr. Lynda Ulrich. Her advice about breaking the grip of post-election stress syndrome deals with focusing on some positives. She said that happens after you acknowledge those political ads are like the rest of marketing. “And then it doesn’t really matter which side of the political equation you’re on. Ulrich explained her four shifts needed to end the election stress for you:

We’ve heard your concerns about the election results, and we will continue to report the facts. We didn’t win the election,” Clinton said during her concession speech. Clinton and the Democrats didn’t really accept the outcome, according to News4Jax political analyst Rick Mullaney. “Joe Biden has 290 electoral votes because they haven’t finished counting in Georgia, but Georgia appears to be trending towards Joe Biden,” Mullaney explained. And we will continue to report the facts of the election provided to us by election officials counting the votes.

In Duval County, members of the Hispanic community say they saw more campaigns targeting their votes this year. “Most politicians, the wise politicians, at some point or another have addressed the Hispanic community,” said Hispanic voter Carlos Bouvier. Out of 37,496 Hispanics registered to vote in Duval County, 9,289 are Republicans, 14,597 are Democrats and 13,004 have no party affiliation. “I come from an island where we have a big government with high taxes," said Hispanic voter Emilio Ruiz. Hispanic voters say also in their minds while voting were responses to disaster relief and passing the minimum wage.

An audit of one race is required before election results are certified by the state, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday that he had selected the presidential race. For the audit, county election staffers will work with the paper ballots in batches, dividing them into piles for each candidate. Then they will count each pile by hand, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said. There is no mandatory recount law in Georgia, but state law provides that option to a trailing candidate if the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. Brad Raffensperger was going to get tested and plans to self-quarantine as a precaution even if his test is negative, Fuchs said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Times are tense right now and that’s made many of you upset with the coverage of the 2020 presidential election. From President Donald Trump to his top supporters, there’s a lot of doubt in the election results and the free press. This sentiment spills over into local news coverage, like what we’ve been doing WJXT for 71 years. Social media followers have dropped across the board at most local news outlets since the results of the election. They cannot rely on unfounded claims on social media.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody signed on Monday to a brief aimed at convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that allowed Pennsylvania elections officials to count some late-arriving absentee ballots. Moody was one of 10 Republicans attorneys general who filed the brief in a challenge to a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that allowed counting absentee ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election. The case is one of a flurry of lawsuits filed by Republicans alleging potential ballot fraud in various states. The GOP attorneys general in Monday’s brief said the decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court “exacerbated the risks of ballot fraud” in the key swing state. The brief was filed by Moody and the attorneys general of Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As President Donald Trump’s campaign continues to make allegations of fraud and systemic problems in last week’s election, without enough evidence in court, he will not be able to overturn his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden. News4Jax on Monday spoke with legal experts about what it will take for Trump to have any hope of overturning the election but didn’t speak with one attorney or analyst who thinks this is an easy path for the president. The most critical state where Trump would need to win a lawsuit would be in Pennsylvania. Some wonder whether Trump would have more success in the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has installed three justices during his term. There are some critical deadlines Trump’s legal process is fighting against to win in court.

The 2020 election continues to focus on Georgia. First and foremost, former Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden will become the 46th president of the United States," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. I believe the President may have legal challenges underway in five states.”While Schumer and McConnell disagree in Washington, D.C., Georgia is fighting through election controversy. Buddy Carter, who represents Southeast Georgia and was just reelected to the House of Representatives. Carter said the election dispute is about fairness -- not whether someone is Republican or Democrat.

Nearly a week after Election Day, many Americans are still questioning the results, making claims of voter fraud and illegal votes being counted. ClaimOne claim is that illegal votes were counted in the 2020 election and that helped Joe Biden become the projected president-elect. It’s a corrupt system”That statement has put focus on states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada -- states he claims he won. Trump stated there were 100 million mail-in ballots. That meant mail-in ballots couldn’t be opened until after the polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The Trump campaign is contesting the election results, which project Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential race. Trump campaign officials have been sending out flurries of text messages and emails urging supporters to contribute to the president’s court challenges in five battleground states. But a closer look at the fine print reveals that a portion of the money is going somewhere unexpected. Joe Biden’s campaign also launched a fundraising effort called the Biden Fight Fund in anticipation of the drawn-out legal battle. Bannon pleaded not guilty in federal court in August and could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Biden jogged onto the stage wearing a black suit, black mask and light blue tie. His presidential campaign announced that Biden and his wife, Jill, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will appear at a drive-in rally outside the convention center in Wilmington, Delaware. Vice president-elect Kamala Harris said voters have “ushered in a new day for America.”Harris said voters chose hope, unity, decency, science and truth in choosing she and Biden over Trump. Harris, the first woman to be elected vice president, wore a white pantsuit in tribute to women’s suffrage. Harris will also be the first Black woman to serve as vice president.

Dr. Jill BidenJill Biden, wife of Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during a drive-in rally at Heinz Field, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Pittsburgh. All rights reserved)The president-elect’s second wife and the former second lady of the United States married Joe Biden in 1977. Hunter Biden is a lawyer and investment consultant. Hunter Biden was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine. “There’s addiction in every family,” Hunter Biden has been quoted as saying.

It’s magnified the ideological rift across the country, cost people friendships and even torn families apart — there’s no question the 2020 election has been polarizing. But no matter what final outcome awaits the American people, this election has made one thing clear: we are a nation divided. With that in mind, we want to know how you think we can come together. You’re not aloneTaking things a step further, what (if anything) will you do to help our country heal? Tell us what you think

Because votes are counted state by state, verdicts by the media outlets' decision desks serve as the unofficial finish line for the presidential race. The closeness of the race in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina proved another challenge. “We just have to be certain before we call a winner in the presidential election,” said Sally Buzbee, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP. Heading into Saturday, CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC — which coordinate their vote counts and exit polls — had Biden at 253 electoral votes. All know that calling a presidential election wrong is a career-wrecker.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The COVID-19 pandemic and the “Big Blue Wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were what turned the 2020 presidential election in favor of president-elect Joe Biden, according to News4Jax political analyst Rick Mullaney. Mullaney said it was fitting that Biden’s birth state of Pennsylvania was the one to propel him over the top. Mullaney said Biden’s projected victory hinged on several key moments, including his win in the South Carolina primary and the reaction to the candidates' first debate. “Prior to South Carolina, Joe Biden was a long shot. South Carolina really changed everything,” Mullaney said.

___HEALTH CAREThe health care law known as “Obamacare” was a hallmark of the Obama administration, and Biden wants to build on that to provide coverage for all. On prescription drugs, Biden supports legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for government programs as well as private payers. Also similar to Trump, Biden would allow importation of prescription drugs, subject to safety checks. Biden wants to invite all democratic nations to a summit to discuss how to fight corruption, thwart authoritarianism and support human rights. __TRADELike Trump, Biden accuses China of violating international trade rules, subsidizing its companies and stealing U.S. intellectual property.

We asked you to summarize the 2020 election using three family-friendly words. — BettyJoe Biden Wins! — RobertaSad American Day. — GloriTypical 2020 day. — Angel46 46 46 — RodrickCrunchy, salty, spicy.

World leaders congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, cheering it as an opportunity to fortify global democracy and celebrating the significance of Americans having their first female vice president. Other leaders who sent congratulations included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Still, Iraqi President Barham Salih tweeted his congratulations to Biden, describing him as a friend and trusted partner. His rival, Juan Guaido, also thanked Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for their “firmness and determination” in confronting Maduro. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who struck up a cordial working relationship with Trump, also avoided congratulating Joe Biden.

Text of a statement from President Donald Trump on the election result:"We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”The above statement was issued while Trump was golfing Saturday at his club in Virginia.

Barack ObamaFormer President Barack Obama tweeted: “Congratulations to my friends, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris — our next President and Vice President of the United States.”Congratulations to my friends, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris — our next President and Vice President of the United States. Now we have a President-Elect and Vice President-Elect who will serve all of us and bring us all together. #adayofcelebration — B.A.Priestly Jackson (@Priestjax) November 7, 2020Florida Democratic PartyFlorida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo released the following statement:"Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are ready to go to work for American families. #justsaying #PatriotsHoldTheLine #CountEveryLegalVote — Kat Cammack (@Kat_Cammack) November 7, 2020Mitt RomneySen. Mitt Romney said: “Ann and I extend our congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.”Ann and I extend our congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – News4Jax has been asking Republicans in Florida to respond to the President’s accusations of voter fraud in his race against former Vice President Joe Biden. I do have faith in America to get our election system right,” Fischer said. Fischer on Friday addressed the claims from Trump, who says there is widespread election fraud, a claim the News4JAX Trust Index rates as “not true.”Fischer says there’s cause for concern and called for patience. “Count every legal vote, right, I don’t want a legal vote has been cast to not be counted, but I also don’t want any votes that may not be legal to be counted either,” Fischer said. “Every legal vote should be counted.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A lot of people who wanted to avoid waiting in lines to vote in the presidential election mailed their ballots. But they did so not knowing if their ballot would arrive at the election office in time because even regular mail was arriving slow. DeJoy then said mail-in ballots might not make it to election offices in time because of the delays in mail processing. And that’s what many people did which is why the presidential race was not called on the night of the election. “Some states counted their mail-in ballots first.

As votes are counted across the country to determine who will be the next President of the United States, there are a lot of accusations of fraud and misconduct, some coming directly from the incumbent, President Donald Trump. “All of the recent Biden claimed states will be legally challenged by us for voter fraud and state election fraud. Another one of President Trump’s tweets claims election observers were banned from watching ballot counting. News4Jax Political Analyst Rick Mullaney says it’s going to be an uphill battle for President Trump legally if the margin of defeat continues to grow. So based on information from elections supervisors, and political experts, we give these claims by Trump a rating of not true on our Trust Index.

MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – Sarah Baker has taught social studies and geography at Middleburg High for 15 years. My upper-level classes are leaning one way and my lower level another way,” said Baker. As a public high school teacher, Baker is not allowed to have an opinion and to teach the subject she’s asked her students to do the same. “So this kind of gives them an idea that the size of state doesn’t matter because this is a mismatch looking United States.”Whoever wins each state gets the electoral votes, whichever candidate gets 270 electoral votes, wins. Number two: we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and number 3: mail-in ballots are huge this year,” explained Baker.

ATLANTA – Democrat Joe Biden took a narrow lead over President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia early Friday morning. State officials couldn’t immediately provide the number of uncured absentee ballots. Provisional lists are kept at the county level, and there are thousands outstanding statewide that county officials will decide on whether to count by Friday. Donald Trump Jr. spoke Thursday evening at an event in Atlanta, along with several Georgia elected officials and decried the process. Meanwhile, outside the State Farm Arena where the final Georgia votes are being counted, we have a growing crowd.

“If overtime is required when all of the votes have been counted, we’re ready and we will win,” Perdue campaign manager Ben Fry said in a statement. Ossoff’s campaign manager, Ellen Foster, said in a statement that the campaign is “confident that Jon Ossoff’s historic performance in Georgia has forced Senator David Perdue” into a runoff. U.S. Senate - Georgia: David Perdue, Jon Ossoff, Shane Hazel If no candidate receives 50% of the vote, top two candidates advance to Jan. 5 runoff. Georgia’s other U.S. Senate race is headed to a Jan. 5 runoff between GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock. Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Georgia in two decades, but Republican dominance in statewide races has been slipping in recent elections.

WASHINGTON – A handful of pivotal states remained in play Thursday in the tightly contested U.S. presidential race. Ballots left to count. As long as those ballots are postmarked by Nov. 3, state election officials have until Nov. 12 to count them. And when it comes to mail ballots, Biden was outperforming Trump. ___PENNSYLVANIA: Hundreds of thousands of votes left to be counted.

Using the Associated Press VoteCast tool, News4Jax has access to thousands of surveyed voters in the Peach State. Data from VoteCast shows why the state was so close, closer than in previous election cycles. Among Black voters, Trump did not do well. However, Trump did do much better among white voters in Georgia in this survey beating Biden 69% to 29%. Nationally, vote-by-mail voters tended to support Biden and that was the case in Georgia.

Even before Trump officially notched his win Tuesday night in Florida, some Democrats were calling for a state party shakeup. Eskamani said her re-election came with marginal support from the Florida Democratic Party, adding that her political committee contributed more than $35,000 to help other candidates. Throughout the day Wednesday, pressure mounted for the ouster of Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo and party executive director Juan Peñalosa. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Florida’s only statewide elected Democrat, acknowledged that Florida Democrats “suffered some hard losses” on election night. “The Democrats almost bragged about not going door to door, saying, ‘We’re not going to do that, COVID, blah blah blah blah blah,’ and it came to bear on Election Day,” he said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Chris Hoffman has become the first woman to be elected as the mayor of Jacksonville Beach, defeating Jeanell Wilson with 70% of the vote. I run the Beaches Museum, so I live in the beaches history all day, every day," Hoffman said. Hoffman says she grew up in a military family that laid down roots in Jacksonville Beach. The Fletcher High School graduate said one of her goals as mayor is to revive downtown. “The coolest thing and the best thing is we’ve all gotten along in the past anyway," said Neptune Beach Mayor Elaine Brown.

There are some major changes for the Clay County school district. There has also been a major shift on the Clay County School Board. Longtime School Board member Carol Studdard, who has been a board member for almost three decades, lost to Beth Clark. The other headline of note in Clay County is Studdard losing her re-election bid for the first time. District officials tell News4Jax wanted this new tax hike to be a sales tax so it wasn’t specifically funded only by property owners in Clay County.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida voters approved an amendment raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years. On Wednesday, News4Jax spoke with a couple of small business owners about the impact that the change will have on business. Amendment 2, which was approved by a supermajority of Florida voters, will raise Florida’s minimum wage gradually over the next six years. 2 - Raising minimum wage Raises the state’s minimum wage to $10 per hour effective Sept. 30, 2021, and increase it each Sept. 30 thereafter by $1 until the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour on Sept. 30, 2026. From that point forward, future minimum wage increases shall revert to being adjusted annually for inflation.

As of Wednesday evening, it’s still unclear which presidential candidate will capture Georgia and all of its 16 electoral votes. Of the more than 3,200 Georgia voters asked, 38% said it was the most important issue facing the country. Biden faired better with those voters who said the coronavirus and racism were important issues, while Trump did better with Georgia voters who said the economy, immigration and law enforcement were the most important issues. Early Wednesday, Trump prematurely claimed he carried Georgia — and several other states that were too early to call. The AP survey asked voters in Georgia how confident they are that votes will be counted accurately.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For decades, Florida has been in the national spotlight on Election Night when it comes to ballot counts. Tuesday night was no different, except this time, Florida did everything right, perhaps learning on the lessons from the 2000 election. Ron DeSantis praised the state’s election officials' handling of the ballot count. Florida is one of the many states that processed mail-in ballots before election day. When asked how hard it is to change the process, Holland responded:“It really comes in the state’s -- the pressure and desire for them to change.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Even though Duval County finished the overall counting of ballots, the canvassing board is still working to make sure every legitimate vote is accepted. By Saturday, the elections results in Duval County have to be certified and sent to the state. The canvassing board is also looking at vote-by-mail ballot where signatures don’t match the signature on file. That could have put a kink in Duval County elections results. Chris Hand, a lawyer for the Duval County Democratic Party, was one of those who raised the objection.

Elections results versus pre-election polls are two very different showings. Several polls had former Vice President Joe Biden winning the election and even him turning Florida blue. While we still do not know the winner of the 2020 presidential election, we know Florida did not go blue. This includes the results to many pre-election polls. Florida is a battleground state that some polls anticipated could flip from red to blue.

4:36 a.m.Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are in a dead heat in the race for Georgia. Currently, former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by just 11,438 votes statewide. The latest counts gives Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call. The electoral vote has former vice president Joe Biden in front of President Donald Trump, 238-213, at this point. Mullaney adds an update on Wisconsin that helps out former vice president Joe Biden in the race for the White House.

Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump gathered outside the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. 4:36 a.m. FridayFormer Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are in a dead heat in the race for Georgia. Dozens of angry supporters of President Donald Trump converged on vote-counting center in Detroit, Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona. The electoral vote has former vice president Joe Biden in front of President Donald Trump, 238-213, at this point. The big rigs moved through Downtown Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon, blaring horns in support of President Donald Trump.

AP VoteCast found that 42% of Florida voters said the United States is on the right track, and 57% of voters said it is headed in the wrong direction. The AP called the race for Trump in Florida. I think he’s done an excellent job.”Both Black voters and Latino voters were more likely to support Biden. The survey of 3,584 voters in Florida was conducted for eight days, concluding as polls closed. The survey combines a random sample of registered voters drawn from the state voter file and self-identified registered voters selected from nonprobability online panels.

Ron DeSantis on Wednesday criticized the national media coverage of the presidential election Tuesday night and praised Florida’s efficient count of more than 11 million votes. “Perhaps 2020 was the year that we finally vanquished the ghosts of Bush versus Gore,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Tallahassee. Florida election results were tabulated quickly in the swing state Tuesday night while other key states are still counting votes and may be for days to come. “The people are actually looking at Florida, and asking the question, ‘Why can’t the states be more like Florida?’” DeSantis said. Biden flipped Arizona, according to the Associated Press, a state that has reliably voted Republican in recent elections.

There’s no doubt that Election Day this year was one for the books. After record-setting early voting, people still showed up in droves on Election Day to cast their ballot. Below are 10 photos -- all from Getty Images -- that give an indication of how different this Election Day looked. (2020 Getty Images)Protesters march through the streets around Black Lives Matter Plaza on Nov. 3 in Washington DC. (2020 Getty Images)Did you feel things were different this year?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida voters on Tuesday agreed to return 23 appellate judges to the bench, along with Florida Supreme Court Justice Carlos Muñiz. Ron DeSantis appointed Muñiz to the state Supreme Court last year. State law requires Florida Supreme Court justices and appeals court judges to be placed on the ballot for retention in nonpartisan elections within the first year of appointment. Florida voters overwhelmingly retained all of the appellate court judges up for retention this year, including Nordby and five other 1st District Court of Appeal judges -- Joseph Lewis Jr., Scott Makar, Tim Osteraus, Clay Roberts and Adam Tannenbaum. Voters also retained 4th District Court of Appeal Judges Alan O. Forst, Mark W. Klingensmith and Martha C. Warner.

Incumbent Republican District Attorney Jackie Johnson was defeated by Independent Keith Higgins in the race for Brunswick Judicial Circuit. More than two months passed before Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. Gregory McMichael had been a longtime investigator for Johnson’s office. Johnson recused herself but handed the case off to a second district attorney. Barnhill was eventually removed over his own conflict of interest -- his son works for Johnson and had prosecuted an earlier case against Arbery.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Despite record numbers of mail ballots and early voting, Florida’s secretary of state said the state saw medium to high turnout on Election Day. She said the election went smoothly here, but there were isolated issues. Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee reported the state’s election systems were not compromised by cyberattacks and called the election a success. “And what we have seen today is an example of incredible teamwork between Florida’s voters, our poll workers and our supervisors of elections,” Lee said. Lee also noted voters were well mannered and respectful at the polls.

President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were locked in a tight race in Florida, and it was too early for The Associated Press to call the perennial battleground state. Florida has a history of close elections, including the state’s 2018 governor’s race, which went to a recount. The AP was waiting on more vote counts to come in from south Florida, including Miami-Dade County, the largest county in the state. More than 10 million voters, or about 75 percent, of Florida’s 14.4 million registered voters cast ballots in the election. ---The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

Florida voters on Tuesday approved raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years, which advocates say will lift the pay for hundreds of thousands of workers in the state’s service-heavy economy. A supermajority of Florida voters approved the amendment to the Florida Constitution that will raise Florida’s minimum wage from the current $8.56 an hour to $15 an hour by 2026. Although Florida’s current minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, supporters of Amendment 2 said it is impossible to live on that wage given the state’s cost of living. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will increase the income of a quarter of Florida’s workforce, according to the Florida Policy Institute. Florida joins seven other states that have made plans to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years.

JACKSONVILLE, Fa, – Republican Jody Phillips defeated Democrat Jimmy Midyette in the race for Duval County clerk of court. It was one of the few local races on the ballots of Jacksonville voters this year. Phillips' margin of victory was 51% to 49%. Duval County Clerk of the Court Ronnie Fussell, who has served as clerk since January 2013, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. Phillips will take over for outgoing Court Clerk Ronnie Fussell, who could not seek reelection after eight years in office.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the first time in decades, Duval County turned blue in a presidential election. The last time a Democratic candidate took Duval in a presidential election was President Jimmy Carter. With 100% of the precincts in Duval reporting, Biden took Duval with 250,942 votes. Among Duval County voters, Rutherford got 57.49% of the vote compared to Democratic challenger Donna Deegan, who received 42.40% of the vote. It’s also worth noting that during the gubernatorial race in 2018, Andrew Gillum carried Duval County with more than 51% of the votes cast.

A half-cent sales tax measure to benefit schools in Clay County was passed by voters on Tuesday, bringing the county much-needed relief for improvements to schools there. The measure, which passed 56% to 44%, will increase the sales tax in Clay County to 7.5 cents beginning Jan. 1, 2021. Coordinator of Planning and Intergovernmental Relations Head Jim Fossa said that Clay County expects to need five to seven new schools in the next five to 10 years due to growth in Clay County. Here’s a look at how that half-cent sales tax will benefit area schools. It is the second major funding boost that Clay County voters will have approved for schools in recent elections.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville voters have spoken, and they want the City Council to have a say in who sits on the board of directors for JEA. The majority of voters approved an amendment to the city’s charter that empowers the City Council to appoint and remove four members of the city-owned utility’s board of directors. Previously, the charter held that it was up to the mayor to appoint all seven board members and the council confirmed those appointments. Duval County Referendum - JEA board member appointment “Shall the Jacksonville charter be amended ... to (1) grant to City Council the executive power to appoint and remove four members of the JEA Board and (2) amend the qualifications of board members?" The abandoned plan to find suitors for the utility is under investigation by both the City Council and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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While more than 97 million Americans cast their ballots early or by mail, we asked about your experience at the polls Tuesday. We wanted to find out if you ran into any problems or if you have rave reviews to share. Here are some of your responses:I got to my polling location only to be redirected to a new location. I voted in a booth shoulder to shoulder with others. — AnonymousI had a great experience voting this morning in Mandarin!

People lined up outside polling places before they opened at 7 a.m. but the average wait was down to 12 minutes a little less than an hour later, the secretary of state’s office announced. “We are having a successful election in Georgia today,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said with roughly five hours of voting still to go. A record of nearly 2.7 million voters cast their ballots during the state’s three-week early in-person voting period. Voters also queued for hours during early in-person voting last month, with some waiting more than eight hours to cast a ballot. That has resulted in several hundred new polling places for the general election, he said.

Celebrities -- they’re just like us. Well, not really, but they definitely vote, and they definitely post selfies on Election Day with their “I Voted” sticker. Here are a few celebs who have let social media know they are exercising their constitutional right to have their voice heard. Laura DernSnoop DoggJessica AlbaNatalie PortmanJennifer LopezCharlize TheronBlake Lively and Ryan ReynoldsDemi LovatoDrew BarrymoreLizzoMariah CareyKerry WashingtonAshlee Simpson RossReese WitherspoonHalle BerryNick JonasSelena GomezBrittany SnowJimmy FallonJoe Jonas

The former vice president is competitive in all the battleground states Trump carried in 2016, and has put a handful of traditional Republican states, including Georgia and Arizona, in play. Grab the binoculars and focus on these 10 states as election returns start rolling in:Florida: 29 electoral votesAll eyes are on Florida, a swing state known for razor-thin election tallies. If Trump doesn’t win Florida, he’s going to have a rough time capturing enough states to stay in office. As early voting began in the state, Biden expanded his ad buys into every corner of Ohio. Trump won Arizona in 2016, but it is no longer an ironclad GOP stalwart.

A round of robocalls that hit people’s phones Tuesday breathed new life into concerns that automated messages could have a chilling effect on Election Day turnout, The Washington Post reported. “Getting reports of multiple robocalls going to Flint residents that, due to long lines, they should vote tomorrow. “No long lines and today is the last day to vote. Have your voice heard!”Getting reports of multiple robocalls going to Flint residents that, due to long lines, they should vote tomorrow. No long lines and today is the last day to vote.

A judge ordered some United States Postal Service processing centers in South Florida and other key battleground states to do a sweep for stray election ballots on Tuesday afternoon. The South Florida region includes Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Glades and Hendry counties. The international news organization wrote that the ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought forth by voting rights organization Vote Forward and Latino community groups. That represents 62% of all registered voters in the state and is 93% of the votes received at this point in the last presidential election. Records were shattered in both vote-by-mail and early, on-site voting in Florida and ballots cast represent 93% of all votes received in 2016.

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made their final pitches to Americans on Monday, as the Republican president amplified demands that the results of the 2020 election be finalized on Election Day. While Florida and some other states could begin processing and tabulating mail-in ballots before Tuesday, elections officials in other key states can’t start opening and counting mail-in ballots until Election Day. Florida Democrats go into Election Day with a lead in votes cast, thanks to a huge advantage in voting by mail. “From the perspective of the far right, Election Day is really perceived as the culmination of months of widespread mobilization,” Miller said. But other experts say the United States' democracy is resilient.

Elections officials acknowledged the problem and said it was resolved by rebooting the machine, which has since been working correctly. Voter Alice Nelson told News4Jax that a precinct manager explained the contingency plan when she asked what they were supposed to do. But he said voters who had to leave a ballot in an emergency box are invited to come back and watch all the ballots from the box as they are run through the machine. “As far as I’m concerned, my ballot could have been put into the garbage can,” Nelson said. Hogan said he understands the skepticism, particularly because Florida protects ballot secrecy and there’s no way to know once your ballot is in the box which one it was.

If you didn’t vote by mail or cast your ballot during early voting, Tuesday’s your last chance to have your voice heard in the 2020 general election. And for better or worse, we want to hear about your experience at the polls. Tell us how voting went

Here’s what voting across the nation looks like today -- one of the most historic election days in recent history. (2020 Getty Images)Would-be voters learn they are not registered at their precinct at the O.P. (2020 Getty Images)Voters cast their ballot at The Orpheum Theater on Nov. 3 in Madison, Wisconsin. (2020 Getty Images)Voters stand in ballot boxes at the Kentucky Exposition Center on Nov. 3 in Louisville, Kentucky. (2020 Getty Images)

If you’re heading to the polls this election day, there are some precautions you’ll want to take to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Wear a mask over your nose and mouth; and sanitize your hands after touching objects like door handles and voting machines. Many polling locations provide hand sanitizer, but it’s not a bad idea to bring your own -- just in case. People looking for another way to protect themselves can wear a face shield, in addition to a mask, to prevent droplets from getting into their eyes. “One other thing that I’ve been recommending to patients, especially since lines have been longer, is wearing a face shield,” said Khabbaza.

Copyright 2020 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved. Find results of all national, state and local racesFind results of all national, state and local racesIf you need help with WJXT’s or WCWJ's FCC public inspection file, call (904) 393-9801.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jennifer Grant has lived in the United States legally with her Green Card and work permit since she was 16. But the 65-year-old Jamaican native recently became a U.S. citizen -- just in time to head to the polls for the first time. She said it was very exciting and made her feel like she had a purpose. By voting.”Grant became an American citizen in June after coming to the states legally in 1976. She and her husband of nearly 38 years talked about completing the citizenship process for decades, but it was a difficult journey.

October makes 10 years as a poll worker for Rebecca Coffman. She decided to take on the role to spend more quality time with her father, Gerald. “I never felt so happy, and I felt like that was the first time he was proud of me.”Coffman’s father, Gerald, was a poll worker for more than 20 years. “Every poll is special to me now because I’m very emotional and I remember my father doing that,” she said. Coffman said while she’s been a poll worker for 10 years, this is the biggest turnout she’s seen and it’s been encouraging to see.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Bishop Rudolph McKissick Sr. isn’t new to voting. And when all of us, as people, would have that mentality of voting because we could vote, it did make a difference,” McKissick said. Now, 71 years later, the 93-year-old pastor emeritus at Bethel Baptist Institutional Church said voting is a top priority. But remember, the one thing they did, they worked together for one another and not against one another.”He said while times may be challenging, it is important that young voters understand their power. “They can make a great difference now because it has been proven that a president has come out from us,” McKissick said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For many former felons, having their voting rights reinstated in Florida through Amendment 4 is a long time coming. These days, life is good for Ford. “Like I said, I did negative stuff my whole life.”After his release, Ford went through the Jacksonville-based program Operation New Hope. “There’s a better life. “Not the answer -- there’s a better life.”A life, changing for the better, with the story just beginning.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Starting with her years working as a teacher in Baltimore, Joyce Bates knew she was called to serve others. Her passion followed her to the polls when she moved to St. Johns County in the 2000s. Vicky Oakes, St. Johns County’s Supervisor of Elections told News4Jax the final number of people who voted early was 93,310. Like Bates, Wiles started in the 2000s and is now the clerk at the St. Augustine Beach voting precinct. Legislative records online show he represented District 20, which includes parts of Clay, Flagler and St. Johns counties.

Ben Frazier has been a vocal advocate with the Jacksonville-based Northside Coalition for years, spearheading numerous causes. These include the push to remove Confederate monuments from public spaces and the passage of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to Florida’s former felons. “Since the passage of Amendment 4, I felt a tremendous energizing power that it was now my time,” Frazier said. Frazier regrets not voting years ago before trouble with the law took his rights away. “There are a number of people out there who have never voted,” Frazier said.

We understand documenting that you’ve voted is important to a lot of people — especially when you get that “I Voted” sticker. You should be proud of yourself for casting your vote, but know that there are strict rules in some places when it comes to taking pictures at polling places. “No photography is permitted in the polling room or early voting area, except an elector may photograph his or her own ballot,” the Florida Legislature website states. Voters should always practice courtesy and common sense, and you can always ask a poll worker to specify what the rules are. When in doubt, just wait until you’re back in your car to snap that “I Voted” sticker selfie.

Both the Duval County and Clay County school districts are hoping voters will approve half-cent sales taxes meant to fund school building improvements and security upgrades. Duval County half-cent sales taxIn Duval County, a half-cent sales tax on sales would rake-in nearly 1.72 billion over its 15-year life. NEWS4JAX VOTER’S GUIDE | Duval County Amendment 2: half-cent sales tax for schools | Clay County: School sales taxClay County half-cent sales taxIn Clay County, a half-cent sales tax would collect more than $13.46 million a year, but this one would have a 30-year lifespan -- doubling Duval County’s. And, despite being a third of the size of DCPS, Clay County District Schools has twice the amount of portable classrooms. News4Jax also put together a map that plots all the schools in the Clay County school district with planned expenditures.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida Amendment 5 involves extending your homestead exemption. To understand what is at stake here, you need to first understand what the Save Our Homes amendment is. That’s significant because the assessed value of your home is what determines how much you owe in property taxes each year. NEWS4JAX VOTER’S GUIDE | Florida Amendment 5: Limit on Homestead ExemptionSo what does that have to do with Amendment 5? If you do not think homeowners should be given more time to use that property tax savings, then you should vote “no” to Amendment 5.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The state of Florida always gains the attention of voters during an election cycle. But the national attention has perhaps never been higher for the Sunshine State during an election than in the year 2000. The mere mention of the 2000 election unsettles people in Palm Beach County. But George W. Bush became president after the Supreme Court decided, 5-4, to halt further Florida recounts, more than a month after Election Day. But as we learned in 2000, Election Day isn’t the end.

Florida is a key swing state, and while every county is important, winning South Florida is huge for a candidate’s success. South Florida is an area that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. In South Florida – the area with the Sunshine State’s largest population – the focus is on Latin and minority votes, which on Monday appeared to be split. RELATED: Law enforcement prepares for possibility of armed militias, voter suppression at Florida polling placesThe Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is stationing deputies outside each polling station. Many people here in South Florida are concerned about demonstrations or riots because of the results of the election.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – With one day of voting left to go, Georgia has already shattered voting records from 2016. In Glynn County, election workers said they’ve already surpassed the number of voters they had after Election Day 2016. In Brunswick, Deborah Alcantara dropped off her father’s mail-in ballot on the day before Election Day. “For two months, he’s been unconscious with pneumonia and COVID. Already the county has surpassed the number of votes counted by Election Day in 2016.

It’s safe to say this has been a polarizing election. But what other words come to mind? Here’s our challenge to you: describe the 2020 general election in three (family-friendly) words or less. How would you describe it?

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)How much do you know about presidential history? Whether you’re a history buff or just someone who paid attention in school, we want to test your knowledge. Take our brief quiz below and share your score in the comments. [App and mobile users click here to view the quiz]

Opponents contend it’s not the time for such a tax yet and that institutional changes need to be made first. One of those opponents is Chris Oliver, father to a preschooler in the school district. “It’s not that this doesn’t need to be passed, but it doesn’t need to be passed quite yet," Oliver said. News4Jax constructed an interactive map showing where the district is planning to invest the tax revenue if the referendum passes. A similar ballot measure is being weighed by voters in Clay County’s school district.

With Democrats still holding a 108,000 vote advantage, Steve Schale with the Biden-backing Unite the Country PAC is feeling confident going into Election Day. But Republicans are confident they can close the gap with Election Day turnout. This is when our voters, they prefer to vote in person on Election Day, traditionally. If 3.1 million show up to the polls on Election Day, the state will have surpassed the previous turnout record set in 1992. In 2016, Trump led by two-tenths of a point going into Election Day, but ultimately came out 1.2 percent ahead in the results.

Duval County is one of six jurisdictions in Florida, and one of 44 nationwide, where the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will have monitors Tuesday checking to make sure voting sites follow federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Americans with Disabilities Act, the Justice Department announced Monday. “Federal law entrusts the Civil Rights Division with protecting the right to vote for all Americans,” said Eric S. Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. Complaints concerning violence, threats or intimidation should be reported to local police and then to the Justice Department. News4Jax reached out to the Justice Department to find out. In response, a spokesperson said it’s based on an assessment the agency produces every year a federal election is held.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Nearly 20,000 voters who requested mail-in ballots have not submitted them in St. Johns County. Now that early voting has ended, you can only turn in your mail-in ballot at the Supervisor of Elections office. Their voting will be much more efficient if they are prepared when they go to vote,” Oakes said. “We have had so many address changes, especially with voters moving from county to county into St. Johns from Duval. Voters have two days to re-submit a rejected mail-in ballot after the election, or until Thursday, to have that ballot counted.

MIAMI – Both presidential candidates have spent time visiting South Florida, which is key to winning the Sunshine State and the nation. There’s a lot of focus on South Florida for the presidential race. Florida is a swing state, and a candidate cannot with the Sunshine State without taking South Florida. He was just in South Florida last week after voting early in Palm Beach County. South Florida has the potential for a lot of problems.

On Sunday, News4Jax spoke with members of the transgender community about this upcoming election and what it means for them. From inside their Ponte Vedra Beach home, Christina Greeneltch and her wife, Kristie, talked about the 2020 presidential election. I don’t know how they would support others. I would like to think they might, but I don’t know they would.”News4Jax also asked her whether she felt suppressed by the current administration. He’s never done it for politics,” Tiffany Trump said to a crowd of members of the LGBTQ community.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan appeared Sunday on “This Week in Jacksonville" ahead of Election Day. Hogan reminded voters that Election Day is always busy and there are usually lines, so if voters come prepared, the lines will be shorter. “And we still believe that.”But he went on to say there was a spike in provisional ballots this week. “So we’re right at 500, I think, provisional ballots," Hogan said. We want to get ahead of that as best we can.”As far as projected voter turnout, Hogan said: “We’ve always looked at between 85% turnout to 92% turnout.”As of Sunday morning, Hogan said, turnout was around 57%.

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PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A Putnam County woman told News4Jax she feels intimidated after receiving two postcards in her mailbox that contained a handwritten message. Rodriguez said the red ink that was used on the second postcard to write “Tues. -“It seems like they’re trying to sway it one way or the other by writing the dates in red ink when everything else is written in black ink,” Rodriguez said. Southern Law Poverty Law Center hosted a virtual panel to talk voter intimidation and suppression. “We need to really think seriously about implementing same-day voter registration, automatic voter registration, automatic opportunities for ‘no-excuse’ absentee voting, a requirement that all states allow for a period of early voting,” said Abudu.

Officials in Broward County, a Democratic stronghold and Florida's second most populous county, uncovered the scheme over the summer. Broward County supervisor of elections officials flagged the registrations as suspicious and turned them over to the Broward state attorney's office. “We cannot comment on an ongoing, active criminal investigation,” state attorney’s office spokeswoman Paula McMahon told The Associated Press in an email. Thirty of the 51 were verified by the state attorney's office as being deceased. Elections officials said the applications were left blank in spaces for driver license and Social Security numbers.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a ruling that upheld a decades-old Florida law that determines how candidates are listed on election ballots, nailing down a win for Gov. After that ruling, the plaintiffs asked for a rehearing by the full appeals court. That case concluded that disputes about partisan gerrymandering involved political questions outside the reach of federal courts. They contended, in part, that the panel erred when it decided the ballot-order issue was a political question outside the realm of federal judges. “For decades, federal courts have considered ballot order challenges without expressing any concerns about their ability to adjudicate them,” the petition said.

Is there a racial divide when it comes to voting wait times at precincts? In 2016, white voters waited an average of 10 minutes, according to a survey of voters conducted by the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In comparison, Black voters waited an average of 16 minutes and Latino voters were in line an average of 13 minutes, according to the survey. During the 2018 election, Black voters waited an average of 11.5 minutes, Latino voters an average of 11.7 minutes and white voters an average of 8.8 minutes, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. In precincts with 90% or more non-white voters, the average wait time was 32.4 minutes and the median was 13.3 minutes.