This story will be updated throughout the day.
Many South Florida voters were greeted by wet and windy weather Tuesday morning, a perhaps fitting ending to one of the stormiest U.S. elections in memory.
Still, although about 60% of Florida's electorate — more than 8 million people — voted early, Election Day turnout looked robust at polling sites like the Coral Gables Branch Library.
After voting there, Rita Fernandez, 69, an insurance worker, said the economy was the biggest issue on her mind when she voted.
"People, young people can't afford to purchase homes," Fernandez told WLRN.
"The food prices are skyrocketing, and if you're on a fixed income, it's very hard. The United States needs to improve the way that they run their business because we need a change."
Turnout in Miami-Dade County was strong, according to early voting returns, with Republican voters outnumbering Democratic voters by about 25,000 ballots.
Gustavo Amador, 47, also voted at the Coral Gables Branch Library — and also said the economy was a front-and-center issue for him.
"The economy is not being handled properly," said Amador, a Republican. "You don't need handouts, you need people working and producing.”
At the City of Miami Fire Station II polling venue, Michael Samo, 25, a Russian-American Florida International University undergraduate, said he was voting for just the second time as a U.S. citizen.
“I don't think it's a surprise that this election is a sh— show," said Samo, who identifies more with the Democratic Party. "Let's see, impending fascism, inflation, just a general rise of reactionary sentiment, especially in this state."
Kayla Fogarty, 41, a Democrat who works in the mortgage industry, also cast her ballot at the fire station. She said she was motivated most to vote on women’s rights.
“I always felt like you should vote on issues not along party lines and do what's right and wrong," Fogerty said. "But in this situation, I think we need to just put everyone blue inside right now,” she said.
“Anyone who's been voting for Trump, I think it's not anyone I would get along with,” Fogarty told WLRN.
In the Keys — where Monroe County denizens were already feeling the stirrings of Tropical Storm (and soon to be Hurricane) Raphael approaching from south of Cuba — Georgie Sage came out to vote in Key Colony Beach.
Sage said she too was driven to vote by women's rights issues, but also to support marginalized communities. (Working-class Keys residents, for example, are finding it harder to make ends meet given the cost of housing, gas and food there.)
“I live in a very privileged place, and I appreciate it," Sage said. "But I have so much sympathy for people who need help."
In Broward County, meanwhile, the long lines elections officials had expected at polling sites hadn't materialized by the early afternoon.
Heidi Frazier of Fort Lauderdale had anticipated a long wait at North Andrews Garden Elementary School. But, she told WLRN:
"We had the whole afternoon planned, and it onlyl took, what? Five, ten minutes? And that's filling out the circles, everything."
A big likely reason: that larger than usual early vote in Florida — which in Broward County saw 47% of registered voters cast ballots in person or by mail before Election Day.
An earlier version of this story misspelled Georgie Sage's name.
