Florida Certifies Election Results
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – Two weeks after Election Day, Governor Rick Scott and other Republican members of the state's canvassing board have certified Florida's voting results.
The official results showed President Barack Obama carried the Sunshine State and received all of Florida's 29 electoral votes. It was the second straight election for Obama to carry the state.
The final race to be decided finally ended Tuesday morning when former Congressman Allen West finally conceded his seat to Congressman-elect Patrick Murphy in the 18th Congressional District. West had been fighting the results since he lost on election night, before finally giving up Tuesday.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner said only unofficial returns from St. Lucie County were recorded in the race because official results were not received by Monday's deadline.
The election will be remembered as much for the problems that Scott and Republicans caused as anything. The GOP-led legislature slashed early voting days and that led to massive lines at early voting locations that saw some voters wait up to six hours to cast a vote.
On Election Day, more problems sprang up across South Florida with some voters in Miami-Dade County not casting their vote until 1 a.m. the following day, long after the election had been decided.
Scott and Detzner said they hope to see improvements before the next election cycle to shorten some of the lines that created the long waits. Scott will be on the ballot during the 2014 election.
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