Today voters across the county went to the polls for elections in Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah and Homestead as well as a county-wide referendum concerning funding for Jackson Memorial Hospital. As always, we'll be keeping an update post on those results as they come back. We'll update results at the top as they come in, and we'll be making live updates down below.
Keep in mind, results reported by the elections department tonight will not yet be officially certified.
Miami Beach:
Mayor: Philip Levine may need machine recount to clarify outright victory.
Commissioner Group I: Runoff (Micky Steinberg vs Elsa Urquiza)
Commissioner Group II: Runoff (Jorge Exposito vs Michael Grieco)
Commissioner Group III: Runoff (Matti Herrera Bower vs Joy Malakoff)
Medical Marijuana Straw Poll: Passed, bro.
Other Ballot Questions: All Passed.
Miami:
Mayor: Tomas P. Regalado (incumbent)
Commissioner District 3: Frank Carollo (incumbent)
Commissioner District 5: Runoff (Keon Hardemon vs Richard P. Dunn)
Coconut Grove Waterfront Referendum: Passed
Hialeah:
Mayor: Carlos Hernandez (incumbent)
Council Member Group V: Luis Hernandez (incumbent)
Council Member Group VI: Paul 'Pablito' Hernandez (incumbent)
Pension Amendment: Passed
Homestead:
Mayor: Jeff Porter
Vice Mayor: Stephen Shelley
Council Member Seat 4: Jimmie L. Williams, III
Jackson Memorial Bond Issue: Approved
Liveblog: (Latest updates at the top)
11:00 - That's it for tonight, folks. We've clarified some results up top. The Homestead results are finally in, and it looks like Richard Dunn will be heading to the runoff against Keon Hardemon without a recount.
10:24 - All voter questions/referendums/amendments passed in all municipalities. That includes Jackson Memorial Bonds county wide, The Coconut Grove Waterfront redevelopment plans in Miami, and the new city pension plan in Hialeah.
Miami Beach had the most ballot questions and they all passed. Those include one to ban discriminatory hiring practices city-wide (including based on gender identity and sexual orientation), a question that doesn't do much but reaffirm that the city should work with the school board to improve schools and their facilities in the city, that weird condo/co-op thing (If you don't know then maybe you don't care, again sort of meaningless), a question that would require a public vote if the city wants to eliminate certain civil rights, a question that would require 60 percent of voters to approve of the sale of or the long term lease of any Convention Center property, and a straw poll that would require the commission to adapt a resolution letting the federal and state Government know they're totally cool with medicinal marijuana use. In other words, Miami Beach remains steadfastly liberal.
10:11 Well, the District 5 City of Miami Commission race is just a mess. Keon Hardemon is almost certainly headed to a runoff with just under 46 percent of the vote and only one precincts of importance left to report.
The big question is who he'll face. Richard P. Dunn II has 22.04%, Jacqui Colyer has 21.59 percent of the vote. Right now that means there would have to be an automatic machine recount before we know who is headed to a runoff.
10:02 - Automatic recount situation by state law when it comes to situations involving possible runoffs: Candidate would have to win by 50.5 percent to avoid an automatic recount. Levine is at 50.47 right now. Two smaller precincts have still not reported (Update: Those precincts only have 61 registered voters between them anyway). Provisional ballots and absentee ballots received on election day have yet to be counted.
10:00 - Those three final precincts that actually mater just came in. Here's what the Miami Beach mayoral race looks like:
Going to check out Miami Beach's automatic trigger rules for recounts right now.
9:56 - We're waiting on five precincts in Miami Beach, but two are really tiny.
9:46 - Yep, the Jackson Memorial bond issue will pass. It's at 65.04% with the majority of precincts in.
9:31 - With 31 of 36 precincts in, we're calling it: All three commission races in Miami Beach are headed to runoffs. That's scheduled for November 19th.
8:57 - About half of the precincts have reported in Miami Beach. Here's the Mayoral picture:
Philip Levine's percentage continues to slip towards that 50 percent threshold. He only has 47 percent of the election day votes counted so far. It's still possible he'll avoid a runoff against Gongora, but its not quite guaranteed.
Meanwhile, all three commission seats are still very much in the "Runoff Watch." That would look like Urquiza vs Steinberg in Group 1 (though Roberts isn't completely out of the picture), Incumbent Exposito vs Grieco in Group 2 and Bower vs Malakoff in Group 3.
8:48 - The Homestead mayor race remains wire thin:
Notice though that just 3 of 16 precincts have reported.
8:42 - In Miami Commission District 4 news, Keon Hardemon's lead is growing as election day votes come in. He's up to just over 45 percent of the vote. Not enough to avoid a runoff, but with just 16 of 36 percent of percents in, its still possible he wins outright. Former Commissioner. Richard P. Dunn II now has a slightly firmer hold on second place over Jacqui Colyer, but its still less than 2 percent between them.
8:37 - Or maybe the beef is over. A Herald Reporter tweets Levine is saying it was a misunderstanding.
Now @VoteLevine is texting me that there was "bad security" that that "of course!" our reporters are allowed in to his watch party.
— Christina Veiga (@cveiga) November 6, 2013
8:29 - Philip Levine has apparently banned The Miami Herald from his watch party. Way to set the tenor for your possible administration. In case you're wondering the backstory on the Levine/Herald beef, this sheds some light.
The @MiamiHerald was officially not allowed entrance into Levine's watch party. #BeachElex
— jusB (@BrittnyCharity) November 6, 2013
A spokesperson said it was a group decision to not allow the @MiamiHerald in.
— jusB (@BrittnyCharity) November 6, 2013
8:22 Miami Beach Update: 7 of 36 precincts are in. Philip Levine is still above 50 percent in the Mayoral race, with 52.26 percent. Jorge Exposito and Matti Bower are still under 50 percent in their races, and only falling. They could very well be headed towards runoff elections.
8:13 - 14 of 52 Hialeah precincts are in, but we'd be idiots not to consider these races decided. Congratulations to the Hialeah establishment. Mayor Hernandez and Councilmen Gonzalez and Hernandez are all headed back to work.
We're also throwing the obvious call to City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado who was left with no real competition when Comm. Francis Suarez dropped out.
8:07 - None of the voter questions/referendums in Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah and Miami-Dade (i.e. Jackson Memorial) appear to be headed to defeat.
8:03: Gawker called New York City's mayoral election this morning well before polls closed. We like that style, but we'll wait until at least a few more precincts come in before we make the easy calls. Which shouldn't be that soon. Election day voting is starting to trickle in.
7:59: Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado has 81 percent so far in pre-election day voting and faced no real competition, but he's not ready to show up to his victory party just yet apparently.
@PatriciaMazzei but not me yet. T minus....
— Tomás Regalado (@Tomas_Regalado) November 6, 2013
Shameless plug: Follow me on Twitter: @Munzenrieder
7:39 - RUNOFF WATCH
With absentee and early voting in, here's the races that could be headed to a runoff because no one candidate reaches 50 percent:
- Miami Beach Mayor: Philip Levine currently has 52.44 percent, but don't be surprised if that slips to below 50 percent as election day votes come in, especially with the bad press he's recieved. Steve Berke isn't proving much of a threat to either Gongora or Levine with just 9 percent, but that's certainly enough to prevent either from reaching 50 at the end of the day.
- Miami Beach Commissioner Group I - Just 74 votes separate Micky Steinberg and Elsa Urquiza at about 35 percent each. Meanwhile, Sherry Kaplan Roberts has 26 percent. No one is likely to get to 50 percent here.
- Miami Beach Commission Group II - Incumbent Jorge Exposito is just under 50 percent so far. Attorney Michael Grieco is at 35. Dave Crystal at just 17 percent could force the runoff he's left out of.
- Miami Beach Commission Group II - Still-technically-mayor Matti Bower is just under 47 percent. Joy Malakoff is just under 38 percent.
- Miami Commissioner District 5 - Keon Hardemon is at 42 percent. The real fight might be who faces him in a runoff. 31 votes separate Jacqui Colyer and Rev. Dunn for second place.
7:37 - Here's the results so far from Miami Beach's non-binding medical marijuana "straw poll." These are votes cast by early and absentee voters, i.e. not exactly the stoner contingent.
7:33 - The Homestead mayors race is shaping up to be the closest contest all night. Mark Bell sits at 52.74%. Jeff Porter is at 47.26%.
7:29 - Early voting is in. Here's the main shakeups:
- Miami Beach Mayor: Philip Levine's now up to 52.44%. Will that hold? Can he win this without a runoff?
- Miami Beach Commissioners: Matti Bower and Jorge Exposito are still under 50 percent and may face runoffs.
- Miami Commission District 5: Richard P Dunn has overtaken Jacqui Coyler for second place. Keon Hardemon is still in front with 41.85 percent.
7:26 - 65.84% of absentee ballots are For Bonds in the Jackson referendum.
7:24 - In Miami, Tomas Regaldo also has an ~81% of absentee votes situation going on.
Keon Hardemon meanwhile leads in District 5 with 40 percent. Jacqui Colyer is in second with ~26 percent, but Richard Dunn isn't far behind. Meanwhile, Commissioner Frank Carollo appears to be going to an easy reelection as well.
7:22- In Hialeah, Mayor Carlos Hernandez has ~81% of the absentee votes. In the commission races Luis Gonzalez and Pablito Hernandez are at 75 and 76% respectively. Not shaping up to be very a very competitive night in Hialeah, which isn't much of a shocker.
7:16 - Absentee ballots are in!
In Miami Beach, Phillip Levine opens with 53% of absentees to Gongora's 38%. Berke just has 9%.
In the commission group I race, Micky Steinberg and Elsa Urquiza are practically tied at ~36.5% each. Jorge Exposito and Matti Herrera Bower have just about 50% each in their commission races.
7:11 - In case you're wondering Miami mayor Tomas Regalado voted today. Presumably for himself. It's not like he had many other viable options.
Tweet, tweet. Just voted. pic.twitter.com/BwzmFUUHPU
— Tomás Regalado (@Tomas_Regalado) November 5, 2013
7:00 - Polls have officially closed. Absentee and Early voting results should be in soon, which should give us an idea of where the night is headed. Until then, well, we wait.
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