Eye On Miami will be reporting ELECTION RESULTS. By Geniusofdespair

Tomorrow night Miami Dade County absentee ballot and early voting results will be released by 7:30. We will report these results as they come in. Come back tomorrow after 7:30 to see these results. In some cases you can deduce the winners based on these numbers.

In other news today, the pretty reliable 538 blog is predicting a win for Obama. They say Obama's chance of winning is at 86.3%. They are predicting Obama has 307 Electoral votes.

Here is their prediction for Florida:

Will this election be stolen? ... by gimleteye

Florida voters who experienced the 2000 presidential election have post traumatic stress syndrome. It shaped our lives and fear of the consequences of every presidential election, since.

In 2000, the memories of a botched recount in Palm Beach, or GOP operatives helicoptered into downtown Miami County Hall to stop the recount, the role of then Governor Jeb Bush and teams of lawyers protecting his brother's interests, are searing. The cascade of events in Miami: from the plan to capture the Homestead Air Force Base by political insiders (Fact: Bush loyalists Sergio Pino, Rodney Barreto, and Ramon Rasco's HABDI fiasco was supplanted by the formation of US Century Bank; now the largest recipient of TARP money in Florida, the largest undercapitalized bank in the United States, and about to walk away with $50 million in taxpayer dollars), to the commandeering of county government and the election of Alex Penelas as mayor, to the pressuring of the Clinton administration and avoidance by Gore, to the influence peddling by key lobbyists who controlled contracts at the airport, to the abandonment of the ship of state by Penelas and his buddy Herman Echevarria at the crucial moment of the recount, to the election thrown to the US Supreme Court, the subsequent wars waged on lies costing trillions, the triggering and collapse of the nation's housing markets: this cascade of history triggers panic now at the fact of Republican Gov. Rick Scott shortening voting hours -- to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters -- at the fact of a bomb scare in Orlando that shut down an important voting station over the weekend, and yesterday's near riot at the headquarters of the elections department in Miami-Dade because people promised their vote were denied.

Add to this, news percolating of last minute GOP moves to suppress the vote in Ohio and irregularities at key precincts: this presidential election suddenly in the final days gathers the force of doubt and suspicion that if voting rights are at stake on Tuesday, what other fundamental rights could we lose on Wednesday?

VOTING IN DORAL. By Geniusofdespair

Because of crowds chanting, voting was REOPENED at around 3:10pm. They had previously locked the doors at 2pm at elections in Doral. The Joe Garcia campaign summed it up perfectly:

Miami-Dade Elections Department Says Voters Can Vote After Saying Voters Can’t Vote After Saying Voters Can Vote – All Within Six Hours On A Sunday

ALERT THERE IS MORE TIME TO VOTE: TODAY and MONDAY! By Geniusofdespair

 UPDATE: 3:10 Doors unlocked people allowed to vote again. Maybe the chanting did it.

UPDATE: 2:46pm DORAL CLOSED DOWN OVERWHELMED BY VOTERS: PEOPLE ARE DEMANDING TO VOTE, "YELLING LET US VOTE!" read it in the Miami Herald (and watch the vido)...

“We had the best of intentions to provide this service today,” she said (Christina White of Elections). “We just can’t accommodate it to the degree that we would like to.”

Shortly after, however, the department locked its doors and shut down the operation without explanation. The people in line did not get to vote. “Let us vote!” they shouted.

This was written this morning:

VERY IMPORTANT:

In Miami-Dade, voters can request an absentee ballot in person, and turn it in, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday, and between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday at the elections headquarters at 2700 NW 87th Ave., Doral.

YOU CAN VOTE TODAY!

The Election: some final thoughts. By Geniusofdespair

The early voting numbers yesterday were the highest for the week at 39,046. During early voting 235,733 people voted overall. Absentee ballots are at 188,593. That means 424,326 people have voted out of about 1,281,368 registered voters: a third of Miami Dade's registered voters have voted. In 2008 Miami Dade County had a 70.05% voter turnout or 872,260 ballots cast out of 1,245,138 registered voters.  If we again have a 70% turnout that would mean about 896,957 will vote in this election. So, almost half the people, who will probably vote in Miami Dade County, have already voted. Also remember, there will be more absentee ballots coming in on Monday (27,009 came in Friday so I would expect to see a number close to that on Monday).  Note: Always check my math!

We did not make endorsements on all State and County races but I did have opinions on a few (The ones in bold we did endorse together).

On the local front tomorrow, I would like to see:

Audrey Edmonson win in District 3 for County Commissioner.
Luis Garcia win in District 5 for County Commissioner.
Juan Zapata win in District 11 for County Commissioner.
Gwen Margolis win as State Senator in District 35 (I endorsed only. Gimleteye did not.)
Dwight Bullard win as State Senator in District 39. (I endorsed only. Gimleteye did not.)
Jose Javier Rodriguez win as State Representative in District 112.
Ross Hancock win as State Representative in District 114.
Jeffrey Solomon win as State Representative in District 115.

In municipal races I only have one opinion, and it is strong:
I want to see John Dubois lose for Vice Mayor of Palmetto Bay.

SEE OUR ENDORSEMENTS 

If you are an early voter, Gov. Rick Scott made you spend hours waiting in line ... by gimleteye

The Miami Herald reported on the good times had by all in early voting lines stretching as much as six hours in recent days. This is a case of voter suppression, pure and simple, and should give voters reason  enough to send Gov. Rick Scott packing, when his time comes in two years. 

FiveThirtyEight blog by NY Times Nate Silver

Voters on Saturday stretching around Miami City Hall.

Early Voting the Final Wait Time. By Geniusofdespair

The Elections Department, as of 6:42pm, had the final wait time for early voting: Coral Reef Library, The Election Department, Miami Lakes Public Library, Model City Library, South Dade Regional Library and West Kendall Regional Library all have 6 hour waits.  That means they won't get out of there till 1 or 2am. Then, and only then, will early voting be over.

Romney: The World Will Be Run From Missouri ... by gimleteye

I don't know how you feel about the subject ... but this is what Florida endorses for president of the United States?

Ross Hancock for State Rep. District 114. By Geniuofdespair

Eugene Flinn's - South Dade Updates has a good piece on Ross Hancock (running against Erik Fresen - who has a host of bad campaign contributions like big sugar).

Meanwhile in early voting:

NOON: There isn't a wait time under 3 hours in the County in their 11:09 update of waiting time estimates.

Miami Herald headlines Republican poll favoring Romney ... by gimleteye

It is on days like this, where living in Florida is its own peculiar nightmare. The Herald first endorsed President Obama, now headlines on its front page a poll by a Republican pollster showing Romney up, above the margin of error.

In the meantime, Republicans who haven't voted might think about the margin of error in their own party. The GOP has been taken over by the crushing weight of special interest money. According to one report, $9 billion will be spent this election cycle on all political races, with 80 percent of that money coming from a host of coordinated, conservative Republican superPAC's, businesses, and Republican lobbying organizations like the Chamber of Commerce.

This tidal wave of money brooks no diversity of opinion, nuance, or policy difference. It has turned the United States into a support system for the extraordinarily wealthy whose main goal is to keep what they have during a time of unprecedented economic contraction, organized through massively manipulated media and message machinery.

I hope Florida turns Romney back. Were that to happen, it would deliver a message from the ground that it is time to fix what is wrong at the top. Click 'read more' for a recent piece by Timothy Egan that should resonate in a state that has more to lose than any other in the nation.

Aventura Early Voting Yesterday. By Geniusofdespair

I stopped at 3 early voting locations yesterday, only in Aventura did I NOT make it out of the car.

You have to understand Aventura, most of the city has no parking on the streets AT ALL. You can't even pay to park. I wanted to stop by the City Hall location and here is what happened.

The Aventura Government Center had no parking the sign advised to go to the park to park.

This is as close as I could get to the voting location in Aventura yesterday (see voters waiting in line top right of photo). There is a big plaza up there.

This is a line of cars waiting for a parking space to open up.

As instructed I went to the park. This is Founders Park entrance.  There was no directions there,  I just happened to know where it is. The top sign would have scared me enough. Geez you go to vote and you get videotaped. Anyway, the green sign said the lot was full, and it was. I had just come from the government center that lot was full and and I  also did go to the South parking lot.  All were filled. So there was no parking at about 1:30 yesterday, the time I finally got my ass in gear.  I went to 2 other  early voting locations and found parking within 5 minutes.

In contrast, here is how they accommodated people at the North Dade Regional Library. They opened up the front lawn of the library to help voters, not hinder them. The North Dade Regional Library had a 5 hour wait at  7:25am this morning.  They also have seating inside the library for the elderly. I took a video yesterday at this location.