The Florida Roundup - Election anxiety, Florida's shifted politics and increased health risks after hurricanes

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about election anxiety and how to lower the temperature of political rhetoric with former U.S. Reps Carlos Curbelo and Stephanie Murphy (02:15). Then, we heard about how Florida moved away from being a swing state with the New York Times’ Patricia Mazzei (20:24). And later, we checked in with Samantha Putterman with our partner PolitiFact to check some recent claims around early voting (29:34). Then finally, we looked at the health risks brought by Hurricanes Milton and Helene (37:28) and heard from some South Florida voters (42:43).

Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along with us this week. Well, the voting is almost over. Then the expected fights in the courts and the court of public opinion over the results. Will you accept the outcome if your presidential candidate loses? How will you approach those who voted differently than you? And how do we get along in the weeks, months, and years ahead to be governed? 305-995-1800.

Live across the state on this Friday, 305-995-1800. How do we talk about talking about politics and policy? You can email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. The inbox is open for your thoughts. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. So today on the program, election anticipation and anxiety. These voters were at the Willow Branch Library in Jacksonville early Friday. This is really hard and I just, I just pray for our country. It's all I can do right now and vote.

and vote? I intentionally am remaining hopeful. I don't think there's any point in worrying because worrying isn't going to change the outcome. Right now I feel pretty good because it's nice to see so many people come out and vote. It's nice to see all the people who are making this happen. Yeah, I think it's really unfortunate that things have become so polarized because I think there's probably a good chunk of folks in the middle who actually do have more in common than they realize. Have you kept your politics to yourself this season? Have you not told the truth to a friend, neighbor, or colleague about how you're voting because you want to avoid conflict or you just want to talk about politics. Well, let's talk about how we are and should be talking to each other as votes are cast and counted in the days ahead. Carlos Corbello is a former Republican

congressman from South Florida. Stephanie Murphy, a former Democrat, a congresswoman from the Orlando area. Both are involved with the Center Aisle Coalition. Congress folks, welcome back to the program. Great to have you ahead of election day. Great to be with you. Thank you. Both of you have experienced election nights as candidates. Carlos, I'll start with you. How are you approaching the outcome of this presidential election around your own kitchen table? Well, I think the reason there's so much anxiety, there's really two that I've observed. Number one, I think this is the first election in a while where there isn't a consensus expectation for who's going to win. We look

back at 2020, there was some polling consensus indicating indicating that president biden was likely to win in 2016 it was expected that hillary clinton would win now that didn't end up happening but prior to the election uh people were were fairly confident about that outcome so this is uh the first election in a while maybe 2000, where we really don't know what's going to happen. And the other reason why there's so much anxiety, Tom, is because politics has become too important in people's lives. It's become almost a matter of life and death. And look, for candidates, that's certainly the case. like myself, Congressman Murphy, and especially in her first election, there's some anxiety and nervousness about what's going to happen. But to the average citizen, it wasn't like that when I was younger, where people were fearful or worried that

if their candidate lost the election, their lives were going to be significantly more difficult. Yeah, Stephanie, how about that idea of, you know, the presence of national politics in our lives is ever present these days, certainly in our social media scrolls and in cable television and even, you know, broadcast media. Here we are talking about the campaign here in Florida, certainly, where Florida is not really in play at the top of the ticket. But how are you approaching the outcome, Stephanie? Well, I think like many of my neighbors and friends, you know, a little bit of anticipation for the outcome. But I also understand having gone through this a number of times, both as a candidate as

well as somebody who reviewed the election process of the 2020 presidential. I'm coming at it with a bit of patience. I understand that we have to have some patience to wait for the various states to count their votes and to submit their outcomes. And I think one of the things that isn't well understood, but is one of the reasons why it's easy to sow misinformation is that each state counts their, they vote differently, they count their ballots differently, and they report differently. And so it's easy for somebody in one state to look to another and say, hey, that doesn't look right. Is that fair? Or is somebody cheating? When in reality, that's just the way that that state conducts their elections. So I think it's important to be patient with the

process. And then I think the other piece that's missing in our politics today is trust. And so I tend to want to trust the system. You know, there's a system in place where if the race is close, you know, candidates have the opportunity to ask for a recount. There's a process through the judicial system. If somebody thinks that there was, you know, foul play, they can appeal it to the courts and the courts can decide.

But once all of those avenues are pursued and they have come to close, then I think we as Americans have to accept the outcome, whether or not our candidate won. Certainly, we have a candidate who has eroded trust in the judicial system by word and by deed here. But there's an email from John that I want to put to you, Carlos, where John writes, my opinion is honesty becoming the new normal is the key to closing the divisiveness permeating America. And I think, Carlos, to respond to Stephanie's idea of trust being a key element, honesty is as well, wouldn't you say? With each other and with others. Yeah.

Honesty and trust are different sides of the same coin. And certainly the proliferation of lies in our society has been extremely damaging and has eroded trust. And again, it's upon each citizen to, number one, defend the truth. And we've already seen a number of examples in this election of different agents and people on social media trying to spread lies about ballot tampering or manipulation. That's all been disproven. I think media outlets such as this one need to continue doing a good job of putting the truth out there every day. And then the other side of this is what also feeds trust is accepting each other as we are and not demonizing our fellow Americans for their political views. I mean, even people who support former President Trump, who has promoted these lies, most of the people who support him don't support him because they're anti-democratic or they're not bad Americans.

They're certainly not, you know, garbage or anything like that. They just feel like, you know, his vision, his view would be better for the country at this particular time. For those who disagree, it's important to share that disagreement without disqualifying the other side and vice versa. Yeah. Katie has been listening to this conversation, Carlos and Stephanie, from Vero Beach, I think. Katie, thanks for your patience with us. You're on the radio. Go ahead. Yes, I think that how do we address, my question would be to your experts, how do we address it when we know that Trump has been sort of a cult-like figure?

has been sort of a cult-like figure. How do we address what exactly, do you think, Katie? If someone's been, if we've been victimized by a Trump, the whole country, like Hitler was looked at afterwards by Germans, as someone that sort of, he was a cult figure, and he was not honest he wasn't he didn't tell them you know what he was doing with Jews or whatever so back on Trump though I mean I'm trying to get you to focus a little bit on and be clear you're talking about moving ahead in the country after the election if the former president is not reelected is Is that your thought?

So many people have to explain what Trump is saying. They have to say, well, Trump's not really saying that. And he means this. And that's hard for me because the other contender just says what she says and nobody has to interpret. Right. So, you know, let me appreciate, Katie. Thank you for joining the conversation. By the way, folks want to call in 305-995-1800. How are you talking about politics here? We're talking with Carlos Corbello, former Republican congressman from South Florida. Stephanie Murphy, who was a congresswoman who represented parts of the Orlando and Central Florida area as a Democrat. woman who represented uh parts of the orlando and central florida area as a democrat um

talking about kind of what the candidates say or what those around the candidates say and interpreting them there has been a conversation around well let's just say it trash lately here we have this comedian's bad joke calling puerto rico an island of garbage at a trump rally the president of the united states then stephan, responded with a comment that seemed to refer to Trump supporters as garbage. And so Katie's thoughts there in Vero Beach of kind of trying to explain or explain away what a candidate says or doesn't say. What do you think of the candidates efforts here in the final week to go after NPA and swing voters and vote and generally disengaged voters in previous elections. Yeah, you know, regarding the comment that the sitting president made about garbage, I think he tried to clean that up, no pun intended.

But Harris, who is the actual candidate and is the one that's running against Trump, has come out to very clearly say that she doesn't judge people based on their political, who they support politically. And I think it's interesting to note that in a recent poll, even supporters of Donald Trump, 21% view him unfavorably, but they still support him. So you have to understand that, like Carlos said, people make their political decisions based on a whole range of characteristics. And maybe they think he's better on certain issues that are important to them. And so I think it's important that we allow people grace for their political decisions, our neighbors and our friends.

But it's also important for us to elect leaders of good character, because after all, when powerful people lied to their supporters in the last presidential election, it resulted in the assault on the Capitol on January 6th. And we have to avoid that situation again. Tom, if I can just add a couple of thoughts, because the caller asked, what can we do? Obviously, the most important thing that we can do in a democracy is vote. And there are other outlets for citizens to share their views. I mean, she just called into this show. I think that's wonderful. Obviously, there's social media. You can talk to your friends and neighbors.

So we're not impotent in the face of candidates or individuals who we either perceive as dangerous or, you know, a threat to democracy. I mean, since she did mention Adolf Hitler, I do think it's important to be more careful and thoughtful about how we criticize our political opponents. Adolf Hitler is responsible for the death of millions of people, mostly Jews, but many other people as well. To say Donald Trump has attacked our democratic institutions is accurate, and there's a long record to reflect that. To compare him to Adolf Hitler, I think is, you know, goes way too far and is counterproductive and does damage to our national discourse. We had an email from Lauren in St. Petersburg who shared the story,

writing that one of the individuals in my circle of acquaintances, a fervent MAGA, Make America Great Again, Trump supporter, has implicitly threatened my safety if Trump wins. Lauren writes, he wants the government to come after anyone who's not loyal to Trump, he says. And when I asked him if he met me, he clammed up. Carlos, how do we talk to voters? How do we talk to neighbors? And what do you say to voters who express fear about the outcome of this election? Well, look, first of all, if someone feels legitimately threatened, there's a process, right, where that can be addressed. Obviously, the most important thing you should do, The first thing you should do is call local authorities. But yes, Tom, this is a major issue. We have become a more violent society. People don't view one another as adversaries or as having different views. They view one another as being

good or bad according to their political positions. And that is just very, very unhealthy. It is a symptom of a sick society. And frankly, it's a symptom of societies where I think in both my case and Stephanie's case, our families fled, right? Those societies had become so sick, so divided, that people ended up having to flee for their lives. We're obviously not there yet, but we're not on a good path. And every citizen has a role in correcting that reference, Carlos, your family with its history in Cuba and Stephanie's family in Vietnam. for folks who may not be familiar with either you

or Stephanie. Terry has been listening in to the conversation from the Treasure Coast in Melbourne. Go ahead, Terry, you're on the radio. Good morning. Thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to mention a couple of things that I've encountered. I've got one friend back in Illinois, and he simply refuses to even discuss any of these issues, completely loses his temper and launches into conspiracy theories. And you want to point something out to him, and you simply can't do it. And so I've shut up with him, but I sit here thinking, I wonder if I should say something, because he's going to have a tough time explaining his vote to his grandchildren someday. And then I have another friend in Iowa.

It's a person who has emigrated and is a U.S. citizen, and he is one of a number of citizens in Iowa that are facing voter suppression around the state because they're being asked to jump through various and sundry hurdles before they can vote. This isn't helping anything, and I'm sure it has to do with the fact that they're before they can vote. This isn't helping anything and I'm sure it has to do with the fact that... Terry, we lost the call there but we appreciate you telling the stories there of talking across state lines with folks and having friends of different political persuasions is pretty important and the difficulty of course in talking with them. I want to hear from Jeff in Pinellas Park. Go ahead, Jeff. You're on the radio. Hey, thanks for your show. Great topic. I just real quick. I'm a former veteran. You know,

I'm 62 years old. I sort of feel like I'm in the middle. And I feel like I like I think most people feel in this country. Most people are totally disgusted with these two choices you know and I have friends that are staunch Trump supporters and and I try to discuss facts with them and when I nail a fact that they don't like oh I don't want to talk about that right we're not talking anymore and then I get friends on the far left that do the exact same thing. And it's like, well, let's just calmly discuss this. And you can. It's like this great wall has been built in America, and it's crumbling our country. And I feel most people, I sell antiques.

I've also had people come in in and I talk to them, and I feel most people are just totally disgusted with these two choices. America is the greatest country on the planet, and how did we get stuck with these two? You know, it's either one guy told me it's either the great harlot of Babylon or the Antichrist himself. Jeff, I want the two Congress folks to respond here, But first, thank you for your service to this country. And I don't think you're going to get any argument from any of us about the greatness of the United States as a country here and also the challenges that we're facing. Carlos and Stephanie, I'm sorry, we have just a few moments left, but just a quick thought and guidance to Jeff who feels stuck in the middle? I'll just say something quick and let Stephanie close. Look, it's very clear that the country is divided. And that's why we take our work with the Center Isle Coalition so seriously, because we need to heal. We need to bridge this divide. And if that's

going to happen, we need a civil society that has organizations and groups that is prepared and empowered to do that. Stephanie, what could Jeff say to his neighbors in Pinellas Park on November 6th or 7th or 8th, regardless of the outcome of the presidential race? Jeff, I agree with you that this is the greatest country on the planet. And I think what you can say is on the other side of this election is that, you know, no matter who wins, the relationship that you have with these people are is still at that human to human relationship, friend to friend, American to American, and that we're going to move forward together because there really isn't another choice for us. And I agree with Carlos, you know, the center Isle Coalition is really working hard to amplify voices like yours, voices from the middle. Apologies for the interruption. We're up on the

clock. Stephanie, Carlos, thank you for your conversation. Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th, 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. Thanks for listening. I'm Tom Hudson. Next week on our program,

we're going to continue that conversation about how we talk with one another after the results from this election. What is the fate of the effort to put abortion protections in the state constitution and how about allowing the recreational use of marijuana we will talk about those results and we'll also continue that conversation we just had about how we talk to one another as neighbors as floridians as colleagues as americans after this election our inbox is always open for you.

We'd love to hear your thoughts there. Send us a quick note. Email us radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Send us a note about how you're thinking about and approaching the election results. Send us a note about what you think of the outcome after Tuesday. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org.

And we may share your thoughts next week as we continue our conversation. The presidential election this year does not hinge on florida there will be no late night election night florida florida florida moment like there was 24 years ago or even eight years ago despite claims by some democrats florida is not in play in the race to be president there are now more floridians who are registered Republicans than Democrats. The GOP has held a majority in state government for a generation now. Patricia Mazzei is the lead reporter for The New York Times Miami Bureau.

Patty, welcome back to the program. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. You examined Florida's political shift from a swing state to reliably Republican. Remind us of how much of a swing state Florida used to be in presidential elections. Well, I think everybody remembers the 2000 election, which came down to a recount, eventually halted by the U.S. Supreme Court in Florida, and George W. Bush ended up defeating Al Gore by 537 votes.

The subsequent election in 2004 was not as close, but then beginning with 2008 and onwards, we just really had the slimmest of margins. And as probably most listeners remember, the presidential candidates would be here every few days. We would be bombarded with television ads, radio ads, mail. And, you know, Florida was always sort of top of mind through 2016. It was usually one of, if not the largest state in terms of the number of electoral votes available that was kind of open for either candidate, but no longer. That's right. In 2016, we still had sort of that level of attention,

but then starting in 2020, the attention and interest from especially National Democratic Party donors really started to wane because Florida is a very expensive state to campaign in, and they just did not think it was all that winnable. So with the prominent exception of Michael Bloomberg, who, as you might recall, spent a lot of money at the end of the 2020 race here, sort of forcing Donald Trump's campaign to play some defense in Florida. Other than that, we we have not seen much interest in the state at all. And you can see it in the results when when Trump won Florida in 2020, he won by more than three percentage points, which for Florida at the time

was was something of a landslide. Yeah, Florida landslide. Remember those days of one or two or three percent wins. Now, the last Democrat to win a statewide election was Nikki Freed. She was elected as the Ag Commissioner. She's now the head of the State Democratic Party. And a Democratic presidential candidate has not won Florida's electoral college votes since President Obama's reelection in 2012. What are some of the trends that have worked against Democrats statewide here? You know, some things are are structural and long standing. And we know them well, you know, demographics, gerrymandering, term limits, which sort of all, you know, all feeds into more candidates from both parties with more sort of extreme

positions getting elected and then looking for their next office to run and things like that. But Democrats really, in retrospect, failed to do sort of the nuts and bolts of party building and campaigning. They outsourced voter registration years ago to third party groups in an effort to build sort of a wider progressive infrastructure. It ended up not working. And those voter registration efforts did not yield a lot of new voters, the few voters that they did register tended to register without political party affiliation, as opposed to being Democrats. And they don't sort of run their own program and have a harder time just knowing who their voters are to get them to vote, which is a sort of basic fundamental to campaigns. They also had divisions over fundraising.

of basic fundamental to campaigns. They also had divisions over fundraising. After Obama won, there was this idea that you could build a broader coalition, again, by sort of decentralizing the party. It had worked in other states that had different laws and different demographics. And when some donors here decided to start their own group to raise their own money, to contribute to more causes

that interested progressives, they would tell you that really helped sort of abandoned issues and campaigns that would have not gotten interest otherwise. But their critics say that it really just hurt the party also because they lost part of their donation base and didn't have money to compete with the Republican Party of Florida, which, to its credit, is one of the sort of best oiled machines out there and one of the best funded state parties in the country. Because as you said, Republicans have been in control of state government for five years, and it really helps to have governors and legislators at the top of the at the top of the ticket helping the party raise money. The statewide Republican Party has been very successful, has been very powerful, has been well funded. But nationally, I want to ask you,

Patty, because in 2012, if you remember that election loss at the presidential level, that was Mitt Romney when he lost and lost Florida. The Republican National Committee produced a report that wound up becoming, well, it was nicknamed the autopsy. And they kind of were doing some self-checking. It said Republicans were losing back in 2012 because there was a perception that the party did not care about people. And it called specifically for outreach to Black, Asian, and Hispanic communities across the nation. Now, just four years later, all this was really thrown out by the ascendancy of Donald Trump

in 2016. But how has the party made inroads with those communities of voters that it was very explicit that it wanted to reach out to what now 12 years ago? Well, it's interesting, as you noted, the the Trump phenomenon really upended everything, and his coalition ended up working very well in Florida, you know, older white voters, voters without a college degree, a lot of people that fit those demographics that were Republicans in other states moved here. And so it worked for him. But in addition to that, we have seen over time, perhaps not, it was not so true in 2016, but certainly happening over 2020. And this year, they have

made inroads with Black and Hispanic voters that used to be, you know, under a school of democratic thinking, the future of the Democratic Party, they thought as Florida and other states became increasingly more, increasingly had more Hispanic and black citizens, residents, voters, they would win more elections. And the opposite has happened. The Cuban Americans who the Obama campaign had won over the younger Cuban Americans, the thinking was that they would vote differently from their parents and grandparents who tended to be Republican.

And that worked for a while and then stopped. The older some of those voters got, the more they started voting like their grandparents. And there was, of course, no one could have predicted this, but there was an influx of sort of new Cuban immigrants who became citizens and who really liked President Trump. And there was movement among Hispanics beyond Cuban Americans who were moving towards the right. It's sort of, I think we saw it first in Florida, but it has now

sort of moved nationally. And that is the growing population in florida of voters in in 2012 hispanics made up 14 of the florida electorate now it's 18 and so when that growth tends to move towards one party you know we see it in in miami-dade county um it shifts the biggest population base and that's a lot of voters right there and miami-dade county is an interesting um uh look here because as you mentioned the the political shift voter registration and presidential uh support in miami-dade county has shifted to uh republican but a democrat was just re-elected by a wide majority as the mayor of miami-dade county which is the largest county by by um voter registration in the state.

Yeah, I think that's what makes Miami-Dade and also Florida so interesting. You can have a Democrat win a nonpartisan, you know, nominally nonpartisan seat in the first round of an election, right? Sort of win easily, comfortably, clearly in bipartisan fashion. And you can have constitutional amendments put on the ballot for issues that tend to lean left, you know, abortion rights, legalizing marijuana, that may not ultimately pass because the state requires them to reach 60% support, but that I think everybody expects them to get majority support more than 50%. And so on issues, on particular candidates, on nonpartisan races,

on local issues, you see a lot of ticket splitting, where it's not just so easy to say that the whole state is Republican or more conservative. It's much more complicated and nuanced than that. A good motto for Florida in political times, complicated and nuanced than one might believe. Patricia Mazzei sorts through it all as the bureau chief for the New York Times in Miami covering Florida and the Caribbean. Patty, great to have you on the program again. Thanks for sharing your reporting. My pleasure. Thank you. Voting is underway. It continues today, early voting and over the weekend and then, of course, Election Day. And we've been examining claims each week for the past several weeks here with

our partner, PolitiFact. If you've got a claim you want us to check out, be sure to email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Even those claims that may come after all the ballots have been cast. Sam Putterman is a reporter with our news partner, PolitiFact. Sam, we've got a lot to talk about ahead of election night, but let's fact check two recent claims that have been making the rounds on social media about the process of voting. First, it was a couple of weeks ago that this there was a post that first appeared on threads and it said, quote, breaking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says Dominion voting systems will not operate in the state of Florida. End quote. Now, Dominion is that same company that sued Fox for defamation. Fox wound up paying it almost a billion dollars to settle the case. So, Sam, fact check this claim on social media.

Did Governor DeSantis say that this company will not be used here in Florida? No. So we found no evidence, you know, in speeches, news reports, et cetera, that DeSantis said, you know, Dominion voting systems wouldn't be used in the state. The voting system is certified by the Florida Division of Elections and will be used in at least 18 of the state's 67 counties so there was no evidence to support that zero evidence for that claim the second claim that has been making the rounds and has been spreading uh it posted a screenshot this is again on social media so it was a screenshot that claimed it was a county by county voter turnout during early voting. It was it was like a spreadsheet. Right. And it showed that as of last Saturday, last Saturday morning, just after 8 a.m. Eastern time, that four counties had zero early voters vote. Is that true, Sam?

Yes. So the biggest issue with this is that the screenshot was taken, as you said, it was around 8, 11 a.m. on October 26th. The four counties, you know, that were shown with the zero votes were Glades, Gulf, Hamilton, and Holmes. And the reason that the counties didn't have any reported results at the time is pretty simple, because early voting in those counties not only began that same day, but only two of the four counties had polls open by 8, 11 a.m. and only, you know, for 11 minutes. So they didn't really have a chance to vote yet. Yeah. And the state, while the state does provide daily data on early vote and vote by mail ballots that have been received,

I believe, Sam, that is once a day, kind of at the end of the day, that data comes in and then is posted usually early the next morning. Exactly. Yeah. So interesting claim that was true, but there was a reason why there were no voters, early voters cast in those in those in those counties, because simply the time frame that the screenshot was included just didn't capture those. You are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida public radio station. We're talking with our news partner, PolitiFact, and reporter Sam Putterman, as we are talking about some claims that have happened during this election cycle. Sam, let's talk about reporting results on Tuesday night, on election night. Now, polls close at 7 p.m. in the state of Florida, but this is always a lesson in geography during election, right? Is

that the entire state of Florida is not in the Eastern time zone. There's a slice of the pan handle that's in the central time zone. So we actually have to wait until after 8 PM Eastern time before we get to see some results coming in on election night. So talk to us a little bit, Sam, about what types of votes perhaps have already been counted, even though we don't know the results yet. Right. So, you know, with Florida law, it allows county officials to begin processing mail ballots when they get them. So immediately when they receive them, which helps speed up the process for Florida. And for instance, you know, that isn't the case in a state like Pennsylvania, for example. You know, their state law stipulates that officials can't begin that process until 7am on election day. And it's these kinds of, you know, different election rules as

being the reason why one state may complete some of the process or a lot of their votes earlier, you know, than another. And, you know, we talk about results when it comes to predicting winners, you know, it also depends on the makeup of the state's electorate at the time. For instance, you know, as you just discussed, Florida is really no longer a battleground state, right? And in 2020, the margin was wide enough in Florida that media outlets were able to project a winner on election night based on unofficial results. So it very much depends on the electorate of the state and also the rules of the state. Florida is able to kind of speed up that process, like I said, because they can begin counting all of those mail-in ballots. Yeah. So much of the focus of course on a presidential

election cycle is on the president and it is a national election and there's kind of two elections that are happening right there's the popular vote but the electoral college is where the vote is decided for president and vice president and it's a reminder sam as you just pointed out elections are controlled and operated and managed at the state level not at the federal level and so that's why we get these differences, perhaps, in how states wind up when they report their kinds of results, right? Right, exactly. And then there's also, you know, there is a timeline after election day and the initial, you know, a lot of people, sometimes there's a misconception that they may feel like the entire process is done by election night. And, you know, it's not in Florida counties have weeks to finish this process. And, you know,

just because a media outlet projects a winner doesn't mean that, you know, every single ballot has been counted. It just means, you know, one candidate has a wide enough margin of victory that any outstanding votes, you know, would not be able to, you know, not be able to tip the scales. Yeah. Yeah. The election night when the polls close, that just begins another process, right? I mean, those are preliminary election results that come in election night. And then, of course, again, a reminder of civics. When we're talking about a presidential election, voters are actually electing electors who wind up being part of the electoral college that then vote later on in December. Let's talk about the phenomenon, though, of geography here in terms of where vote tallies come in when we're talking about, you know,

precinct district wide, statewide or even national elections. That phenomenon of where the votes come from is kind of important when understanding some of those early results on election night. Right. Yeah. So early results, for instance, may be skewed depending on where vote tallies are exactly coming from, as you said. For example, if a more Democratic county like Broward or Palm Beach reports results earlier than GOP areas, you know, it may look like Democrats are doing better. The same for the inverse. So it's really important, you know, on election night to pay attention to the map and where votes are coming from and when they're coming in. Details matter. Details matter on the election. It's more than, of course, just the final score, but it is getting there before we want to jump to any conclusions.

Sam, we'll see you on the other side of election night. All right. Yes. Thanks for having me. Yeah, of course, Sam Putterman, reporter with our news partner, PolitiFact. If you have a claim that you would like us to check out here ahead of election night or even after the votes have been cast, please let us know. You can send us a note, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We'd love to see those facts, see those checks, see those claims, and be able to put it up to the test for a fact check. There are voter guides available as well in terms of your ability to find a polling place,

what's on the ballot. You can check all that out. Your Florida Public Media Station has a voter guide ready for you. Be sure to also stay tuned to the social media channels and your local Florida Public Radio station on election night and next week for all the local results. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace.

Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along with us. Folks across the state are still cleaning up from Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Floodwaters may have come down, but a potentially fatal bacteria is lurking in the water. Vibrio vulnificus thrives in warm, salty water. It pops up in the Gulf during the summer, which of course coincides with hurricane season. The state reports 77 cases so far this year. 15 people have died. It's the highest in at least a decade. Environment reporter Tom Bayless with

our partner station WGCU now has more from Fort Myers. Norman Beatty, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Florida's College of Medicine, is frustrated that a bacterial infection is being under-detected by doctors despite increases in the illness that can quickly destroy flesh and lead to death. I am typically concerned about the southwest part of Florida, given what we know. Vibrios are a national pathogen of concern. We need to recognize that this is a very deadly infectious disease. There were three dozen of these bacterial infections in Lee County alone

after Hurricane Ian made landfall here in 2022, up from a handful in previous years. Eight people died. Beattie is certain Hurricanes Helene and Milton have roiled southwest Florida's beaches yet again, spreading the harmful bacteria. I don't think we should shy away from talking about this because it's going to infect somebody and they could die from this. Often called flesh-eating bacteria, its name is necrotizing fasciitis and it attacks fat, tendons, and muscles, sometimes turning skin black within a day. You know, if you have been exposed to the saltwater, brackish water within these regions of southwest Florida

in this moment, that's important. It could be a small little bump, but the key to this is it's progressing rapidly. So within minutes, it's doubled in size. And the pain, some of these toxins that are being produced trigger your free nerve endings to really just to tell your brain, hey, something is wrong. People with the infection can get seriously ill and need intensive care or limb amputation. About one in five people die, sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill. Beattie said Vibrio is bound to be spread through the region's shoreline ecosystem. Some of the reporters are talking about, you know, staying out of the water. There's critters in the water. There's chemicals in the water.

But, you know, not one person mentioned there's Vibrio vulnificus in the water. The Florida Department of Health and its local agencies are posting advisories about harmful bacteria and warning people to stay away from the beach, said Christine Hollingsworth, a spokeswoman with Collier County's Health Department. Collier County advises the public not to enter the water due to the increased risk of waterborne illness. Hollingsworth also said to watch for redness developing around a wound. If you have any open cuts or sores and come in contact with flood water, wash the area well with soap to prevent

infection. She said sources of enterococcus and other bacterial infections include failing septic systems, waterline breaks, overflowing manholes, and wildlife. In Fort Myers, I'm Tom Bayless. The hurricanes have helped the mosquito season, or at least the mosquitoes. The bugs have almost tripled the number of dengue fever cases in the state this year compared to the same period last year. Mahika Cookday reports now from our partner station WUSF in Tampa. Mosquito-borne illnesses are fairly common in tropical locations.

But Adrienne Rogers says this year has been one of the most active seasons she's seen in her career. She's the executive director of Pasco County Mosquito Control. The county has reported six out of Florida's 50 locally acquired dengue cases so far this year. Rogers says the recent hurricanes left perfect conditions for the mosquito that transmits the disease. That really likes to breed around people's homes and so things that are around your property like plant trivets, water barrels, wheelbarrows, dog water dishes, things like that. Anything that can hold water has the capacity to breed that specific mosquito. Hillsborough County has reported four locally acquired cases this year.

Mosquito control teams in both counties continue to carry out mosquito treatments. I'm Mahika Cooke-Day in Tampa. Two-thirds of the people who are infected with dengue fever in Florida live in one county, Miami-Dade. Dr. Eileen Marty is an infectious disease expert at Florida International University. Luckily, we're getting away from mosquito season, but we're not getting away from it as fast as we normally do because of these climactic change issues. And we still, especially in South Florida, have to be mindful of things that we all know we have to do to reduce our being bitten by some nasty mosquito that can give us a nasty bug. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station.

Finally this week on the Roundup, Floridians have not seen or heard a lot of this during this election. I'm Kamala Harris and I approve this message. I'm Donald J. Trump and I approve this message. Instead, voters are probably getting mailboxes full of campaign flyers, and their phones have been buzzing with these kinds of text messages. Hi, Thomas, this is Taylor with Yes on 4. This is a text message in favor of the abortion amendment, as read by the software on a smartphone. The only way to end this ban is by voting Yes on Amendment 4. What if every corner of Florida reeked of weed?

This message is against the amendment that would allow the recreational use of marijuana. You have the power to keep Florida clean. Vote no on three. Florida used to see a gold rush of spending by candidates and special interest groups during presidential election years. But not this year. Not on TV. Not online. Andrew Orange tracks targeted digital ads by the presidential campaigns. He's with the University of Pennsylvania's Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies. Political advertising on Meta is actually down pretty significantly from 2020. Much, much, much less.

Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. He finds the Democratic presidential campaign has not spent any money on digital ads targeting voters by zip codes in Florida since April. That's when Joe Biden topped the Democratic ticket. And the Trump campaign has spent even less with Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Four years ago, $177 million was spent by presidential campaigns on all advertising here in Florida. This year, that spending has dropped by more than 99 percent, according to ad tracking company Ad Impact. Now, as Florida has lost its swing state status, candidates are a lot less likely to be talking to voters through traditional paid advertisements. Now, many of those conversations we're having

with each other aren't what they used to be either, if we're even having them at all with someone who thinks differently than we do. WLRN producer Polly Landis spoke with several people working and living at a senior living community in Pompano Beach. It's pretty ugly, you know, between some of the candidates and I don't think it should be that way. You know, I thought it was supposed to be more professional. It's very nasty work out there right now. I don't talk about politics. I don't talk about religion with people. Simply because I'm thinking, I'm probably not going to change your mind.

I know you're not going to change mine. Let's just move on, you know? change mine. Let's just move on, you know. I care but at the same time I don't vote. So they say it on TV and say it out their mouth but they don't mean what they say. The division in this country is, I'm gonna start crying. The division in this country is unbelievable. I'm not a young chicken, and stuff like this never went on before.

You voted, whoever got in, got in, that was it. You didn't like it, you accepted it. It's not like it's just a normal conversation, it's confrontation if the person doesn't agree with you. My family is pretty much split down the middle as far as who they're voting for, so it makes a very spirited family get-togethers. They've got much better about having productive conversations instead of getting emotional about it and then becoming aggressive about it. I feel it's important to understand other viewpoints and we're all Americans. It's half the country doesn't believe what I believe. We have to learn to listen. I don't know what to say, it breaks my heart that our country is so divided. Voter voices from the preserve at Palm Air.

It's a senior living community in Pompano Beach. We heard there from Darian Baker, Melanie White, Angelina Slater, Midge Addis, R.J. Badansky, and the last voice was Myrna Springle. They spoke with producer Polly Landis and reporter Carlton Gillespie from our partner station WLRN in Miami. And that is our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLRN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Meritz. He's also our Technical Director today. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay, and Jackson Harp.

Helen Acevedo answered the phones. Theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com. week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay, and Jackson Harp. Helen Acevedo answered the phones. Theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting public media in Florida. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org.