Why Florida is missing from the results map

The US election results map has a gap: the state that would have been one of the most important if the result had been closer - the swing state of Florida.

It represents 29 electoral votes, a major number when viewed against the 270-vote winning line. In the end it was down to 18-vote Ohio to take the President past that figure.

The Miami Herald reports: “When polls officially closed at 7pm hundreds of people were still waiting to cast ballots in precincts around South Florida, in an election that was marked by long lines and the occasional snafu. Even after the networks called the race for President Obama, people in South Florida remained in line.”

It reports that 80 per cent of the Miami Dade precincts still had queues four hours after the polls should have closed. Some voters had waited six hours. About 18,000 “absentee” ballots also came through on pollig day.

“At Ronald Reagan High School in Doral, the doors closed with some 300 people still in line. By law, any voter who arrived before 7pm is allowed to cast a ballot.”

Florida was the focus of attention in the 2000 presidential election, when George W. Bush led Al Gore by only hundreds of votes and the Supreme Court had to become involved.