If I remember my 2000 history, doesn’t the panhandle polls close later and they run more conservative?
Yep. The western part of the Panhandle is on Central time, and the polls close there at 7 local (8 Eastern). The big controversy in 2000 was that at least one of the networks called Florida for Gore BEFORE 8 Eastern, which meant they called it the polls in the reddest part of the state were still open. Who knows how many votes that might’ve cost GWB.
}:-)4
I believe the Florida panhandle is in the Central Time Zone, so those polls are open an hour later.
They tried to call FLA for Gore early on election night, 2000 to discourage Republican voters still in line. The networks are going to pull out all the stops tonight to try to push Barry over the top.