LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - As polls close in Florida, election officials in Broward County are busy tabulating votes amid record turnout in this year’s presidential election.
7News cameras captured green boxes and white boxes at the supervisor of election’s headquarters in Lauderhill, Tuesday. The green boxes symbolize mail-in and early voting ballots that have been counted, and the white crates symbolize those that remain to be counted.
“The way this operation works is similar to any kind of assembly line,” Broward Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci said. “We’re in very good shape.”
Broward County has passed 75% voter turnout in this year’s election, with more than 950,000 people voting. In the 2016 presidential election, the county saw a 71% voter turnout.
More than 840,000 voters in Broward County voted early, and those ballots have been processed and tabulated as they go. Approximately 150,000 voters were expected to cast their ballots on Election Day, and those results will be sent electronically to headquarters at the end of the night.
“Both sides, both parties, feel like there’s a lot more accountability now, more integrity with the operation, more confidence that we’re going to get a quick count tonight,” Broward Republican Party Chair George Moraitis said.
The Broward County Canvassing Board is reviewing questions surrounding individual ballots, but officials said the addition of cellphones and email addresses have gone a long way to reducing problems.
“There were many systems that were revamped,” Antonacci said. “They were revamped in the context of Florida law and with the help of our professional staff.”
Officials said mail-in ballots have made Election Day much more manageable.
“We’ve done dry runs in the presidential primary and the August primary,” Broward Democratic Party Chair Cynthia Busch said. “When we had a big turnout here, obviously, then, and I think that really prepared us for what’s happening in the last couple of weeks.”
As of 10 p.m., polls have closed in Florida, and all precincts in the county are reporting their respective results.
“As far as signage goes, the one good thing that the legislature did is allow for cure period, so people who don’t sign, or there is a mismatch, we’re on the phone with those people telling them to come on down and cure their ballots,” Antonacci said.
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