Early Voters Casting Votes in Florida
BLACKWELL: Well Florida is one of the critical swing states that could go a long way to deciding this election. Voters are split in the latest polls, so who will win is anyone's guess in a state that has developed a reputation for voting problems, and this year voters are dealing with incredibly long lines now in an effort to avoid long lines on Tuesday. We get more from our John Zarrella.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it the Florida frenzy that gets people on their feet and singing.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will march in -- we'll march in.</s>ZARRELLA: Some camped out just to say they could be first in the door. You would think it was an after-Christmas sale.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got two sleeping bags in case it gets cold. We got a blanket.</s>ZARRELLA: Some came by bus from churches and long lines not a deterrent.</s>PASTOR RANDELL PERRY, FAITH COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH: We waited 100 years to get here so what is three or four hours.</s>ZARRELLA: This is early voting in Florida. Democrats make it a point to turn out big numbers in early voting, and they usually outnumber Republicans, and if you want to avoid long lines on election day, well, you stand in long lines now. Waits up to five hours in some places. This may be the product of some residual subliminal long- lasting after effect from the 2000 election fiasco year, remember, 537 votes. Bottom line, people here believe every vote counts, although there are some who just don't trust the early voting stuff and simply won't do it.</s>DAVID STRINGFIELD, FLORIDA VOTER: I've always felt if I voted on the day of the election, my vote would really be counted, and I've heard of other scenarios in which people have voted early, and their vote doesn't get counted.</s>ZARRELLA: State election officials say about nine million of Florida's 19 million people will vote in this election. Roughly 40 percent of them before election day, either by early voting or absentee ballot. While early voting is Democratic party strength, Republicans traditionally do very well in absentee ballots. In Miami-Dade County, of the quarter million ballots mailed out 130,000 have been returned, sorted by precincts, and in some cases if there's no signature.</s>CRISTINA WHITE, MIAMI-DADE CO. DEPUTY SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS: The returns on absentee ballots have been somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000 a day.</s>ZARRELLA: While all this is going on, behind the scenes, workers at phone banks for both parties.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you mail in your absentee ballot?</s>ZARRELLA: Are urging voters to get out there -- because both parties know that once again in Florida this election could be too close to call.</s>BLACKWELL: I bring in our John Zarrella now. So tonight is it for early voting in Florida. Didn't some Democrats and maybe a couple of non-partisan groups try to get that extended because of these lines?</s>ZARRELLA: Yes, they did, because of what we're seeing here behind me, but the governor, Rick Scott, was not inclined to extend the days. You know, it was the legislature that cut the number of days from 14 down to 8, and -- and, of course, you see what the result is with eight days. I was in line yesterday, Victor, and I started right in this spot, and by the time I got around there and in the door it was two hours and 10 minutes for me from here until I got done voting. Now, look how much longer the line is, you know, Dominic, our camera man is panning around to give you an idea. We figure it's probably about a three to four-hour wait from the back of that line. Is that right? Three to four hours, folks in line are telling me, Victor, that in fact that is right, the wait is about three to four hours from the back of the line there now, and so we expect to see this all the way through this evening. You know, I was talking to one party official who said, you know what, with the acrimonious nature of politics these days, it is so great to see people out in these lines, you know, staying, standing three to four hours to exercise their vote. At least, you know, that is one of the great things about, you know, the American political process and people actually coming out here to do that, but, you know, and the polls are very, very close. As we know, the latest poll in Florida, the president up 49-47, virtually a dead heat and it keeps flip-flopping back and forth. So Florida once again is going to be right there at the end of the day on Tuesday night as one of the principal players most likely deciding the presidency. Victor?</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, with all the jackets and blazers around you, at least, it looks as if there's pretty mild weather. You know this time of year, having lived and worked in south Florida myself. At any time it can be 90 degrees standing out there for five hours.</s>ZARRELLA: Yes, spectacular weather, yes.</s>BLACKWELL: John Zarrella from Plantation.</s>ZARRELLA: Been very lucky.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you, John.</s>ZARRELLA: Sure.</s>KAYE: The women's vote may decide this election and one of the most famous social activists in the country has a message for the candidates. Coming up at 10:00 Eastern, I'll have an exclusive interview with trailblazer Gloria Steinem.