Election 2016 Live Blog: Floridians Cast Ballots In The Primary

The primary election is finally here.   After months of town halls, attack ads and (not a little bit of) fundraising, the voters will decide which candidates will fill local offices and which partisan candidates will proceed to November's general election.  Local and state officials are predicting high—or even record—turnout.  Keep checking in here for the latest.

UPDATE 8:47 p.m. 

The Florida Times Union has called the CD5 Democratic primary for Al Lawson.

UPDATE 8:30 p.m.

Leon County School District Superintendent Jackie Pons appears to have won the Democratic nomination.  He’ll face off against from Leon High School Prinicipal Rocky Hanna in the general election, buy Pons struck an optimistic tone, saying he looks forward to getting back out and speaking with the voters.  

UPDATE 8:21 p.m.

UPDATE 8:06 p.m.

UPDATE 8:02 p.m.

UPDATE 7:53 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown is facing off against former state Senator Al Lawson for the Democratic nomination in CD5.  Early returns show Lawson with strong support in Leon County.

UPDATE 7:47 p.m.

Rosanne Wood, Leon County School Board District 2 candidate says she wants to work with her competitor Roger Pinholster if she wins the primary election.  She notes the race between them has been clean and they are good friends.  

UPDATE 7:38 p.m.

UPDATE 7:35 p.m.

Rosanne Wood says she wants to work with her competitor Roger Pinholster if she wins the primary election.  She notes the race between them has been clean and they are good friends.  

UPDATE 7:33 p.m.

Ken Sukhia, Republican candidate for Congressional District Two says the first thing he’ll do if he wins is thank volunteers and people who have helped in his campaign.  He says the principles he’s been espousing in the primary will continue to be his focus in the general election as well.  

UPDATE 7:06 p.m.

UPDATE 7:04 p.m. 

The polls are closed and returns will begin rolling in shortly.  To see the latest visit leonvotes.org

UPDATE 11:30 a.m.

Credit Florida Department of State / Florida Department of State

/

Florida Department of State

State elections officials are expecting high turnout in this year’s primary election.  Early voting figures have already surpassed turnout in recent cycles.

Florida voters are heading to the polls—but not all of them.  As of Tuesday morning, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner says 1.2 million people voted by mail, and another 538,000 voted early in person. 

“These numbers have also surpassed vote by mail and early voting totals for the 2012 and 2014 primary elections respectively,” he says.

The polls will be open from 7:00 to 7:00, and returns will begin rolling in at 8:00 eastern.

UPDATE 10:38 a.m.

The Washington Post reports Russian hackers have targeted Arizona’s election system.  But as Florida voters head to the polls in this year’s primary, Secretary of State Ken Detzner says Florida’s system is secure.

“Well I would say that we have many safeguards in place,” Detzner says.  “Security is one of our top priorities.”  

“We want to ensure 100 percent voter participation,” he goes on, “and we want to assure that the accuracy of everyone that votes is correct.”

Polls are open from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening.  Returns will start rolling in at 8 eastern.