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Florida’s unemployment rate continues to fall.

Numbers released Friday show it was at 6.5 percent for October, down seven tenths of a percent from September, but there are still 659,000 Floridians looking for work.

Between February and April, Florida lost nearly 1.2 million jobs.

More than half, just under 700,000, have returned.

“Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in October 2020 was 6.5 percent. This represented 659,000 individuals out of a labor force of 10,101,000,” said DEO Chief Economist Adrienne Johnston.

More jobs came back in October.

“Up 61,100 jobs, or point eight percent from September 2020,” said Johnston.

Friday’s release marked the sixth straight month of job gains in the state.

But the figures do show 14,000 people became discouraged and stopped looking for work in October.

That means they aren’t counted as unemployed.

Seven out of ten industries gained jobs in October.

“Leisure and hospitality gained 29,600 jobs over the month, driven by 21,100 jobs gained in accommodations and food services. Profession and business services added 13,000 jobs,” said Johnston.

Job losers were education, health care, information and government.

Still, 19 of 24 job markets in the state saw job growth last month.

“The Tampa metro area gained the most jobs with 5,800 and Cape Coral grew the fastest at 1.8 percent,” said Johnston.

At 10.4 percent Osceola County, the home of Disney, continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the state.

That’s before Disney’s announced 18,000 lay offs next month.

The pandemic has put Florida retailers in a precarious place.

Now they are asking everyone to shop local this holiday season or risk not having a place to shop in the future.

The pandemic has already taken a toll on how much shoppers are expected to spend this year.

Overall holiday spending is expected to be down an average of $50 per person, making a tough year for retailers even tougher.

It’s why the Florida Retail Federation is launching a Find it in Florida campaign.

“One in five jobs here in Florida is tied to the retail industry, and its been a tough year, so we’d like to see you support your neighbors,” said Retail Federation President Scott Shalley.

A survey from the National Retail Federation shows the drop in spending would be even worse, but for fewer people traveling this year and are diverting their travel budget to gifts or goods.

Online sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic and the retailers are okay with that, so long as the items are purchased from Florida businesses.

“You can go to the store, you can meet them at the curb, or you can even shop online . But if you shop online, we’re just encouraging you to shop with people who have businesses that have a Florida presence,” said Shalley.

Earlier this week, state lawmakers signaled they are likely to change a Florida law that requires internet buyers to voluntarily pay sales taxes.

Instead, they plan to require out-of-state retailers to collect the tax.

“They still owe the same tax. We just use the honor system to collect that tax. And I can assure the honor system doesn’t work very well,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson.

Retailers feel the move is vital to their survival.

“You know, we’ve always felt it critical for our local retailers to have a level playing field, but even more so now its critical for the State of Florida,” said Shalley.

First they have to survive this holiday season, which normally accounts for about 20 percent of their annual revenue.

The National Retail Federation found consumers will spend slightly less on gifts and a touch more on decorations, but will cut spending on non-gift purchases by almost 30 percent this season.

After sitting on the sidelines for eight months, the Florida Legislature met for a one-day session Tuesday, but nine of the 160 lawmakers were absent because they tested positive or were exposed to COVID.

Both the human and financial toll of the virus will be front and center when lawmakers begin meeting in January.

The nine absent members, seven from the House and two Senators, hail from one end of the state to the other.

None came in contact with anyone who entered either chamber.

“I want to pause to recognize those who lost their lives as a result of COVID-19. Join me in a moment of silence,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson during the Tuesday organizational Session.

Both the House and Senate will have COVID related committees.

House Speaker Chris Sprowls said the virus and related issues will occupy the majority of lawmakers 60-day session that starts in March.

“Making it easier to start a business out of their home. Many Floridians have now worked from home where they have never done that before. Making opportunities for barriers go down, such as occupational licensing,” said Sprowls.

The budget is going to get most of the attention when lawmakers come back.

They expect to cut up to $5 billion.

“What we’re going to do is review what the 08-09 Great Recession did through 2010. We’re going to review what is important to our budget to this current Legislature,” said Simpson.

But the co-leaders of House Democrats took aim at what they called a lack of specifics.

“I would say Coronavirus was pretty much glossed over in the House Chamber. The reality of the situation,” said Representative Evan Jenne.

Masks were not required for members or the several hundred visitors.

Afterwards few were paying attention to social distancing.

We have been told that everyone in the crowd had tested negative before entering, lessening the possibility of spreading COVID.

Only one of the nine lawmakers who were out Tuesday has been hospitalized, newly elected State Senator Ray Rodriguez of Ft. Myers.

A spokesperson said he is improving.

Governor Ron DeSantis made his first public appearance in thirteen days on Tuesday.

It has been more than two weeks since he has answered reporters’ questions and he didn’t end that streak during the Legislature’s organizational session.

The Governor last appeared before reporters on the Wednesday after the election.

“We’re now being looked at as the state that did it right,” said DeSantis during the November 4th press conference.

He also criticized the national media for calling some states and not others.

He didn’t take questions, but promised he would soon.

“I’ll be back to take questions probably sometime before the week ends,” said DeSantis.

It didn’t happen.

Fast forward 13 days, a major tropical storm and still nothing.

But Tuesday he first appeared in the Florida Senate where he watched new Senators and officers sworn in.

“I am convinced your early actions to protect our elderly and our our most vulnerable populations helped avoid thousands of deaths. Governor we thank you,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson.

As he walked across the Capitol’s fourth floor to the House chamber, we tried to ask what he’s been doing.

He didn’t answer, again promising more later.
“After. On the way back,” said DeSantis.

But he was another no show, seen leaving the chamber through a back entrance.

Democrats were happy to fill the void on why he’s been avoiding questions.

“The Governor has not made one public appearance to talk about COVID-19 or unemployment in weeks and I feel like he’s trying to avoid the press. He doesn’t want to address the fact that Vice President Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States, and he’s tying to avoid any type of conversation about that,” said State Representative Anna Eskamani.

While the Governor was praised during Tuesday’s session, he was also rebuffed by lawmakers.

He had hoped lawmakers would have taken up his tough anti-rioting package, but he was told that will have to wait until next year.

The Governor also chose to meet via phone to certify this year’s election results instead of in person Tuesday morning.

Florida lawmakers return to the State Capitol Tuesday after an eight month hiatus.

The constitution requires they return to organize and select new leadership, but nothing else is on their agenda.

The Senate President and the House Speaker are the two most powerful people in Florida behind the Governor.

Both exercise total control in their chambers.

Prior to the mid 1960’s most presiding officers were from north and north central Florida.

Because of a poorly apportioned Legislature, which was fixed by a court in the mid 1960’s, the majority of votes lived in north Florida’s rural areas.

This time, they both hail from the Tampa Bay Area.

The last time lawmakers were paired geographically was in 2011.

Before that, 1983, which may have lead to agreement on the Moffit Cancer Center.

That both presiding officers come from the same area of the state is very rare, but so is legislators being tested for COVID before they can enter the building.

No lobbyists will be allowed in the Capitol Tuesday.

Reporters who enter must also be tested.

At 36, former prosecutor Chris Sprowls will be handed the House Gavel on Tuesday knowing it is on of the most difficult times in state history.

“So we are going to have significant budget challenges that we are going to have to work through to get Florida back on her feet. And a priority is going to be making the the tough choices now so we can recover faster than the rest of the country,” said Sprowls.

54 -year-old Senate President Designate Wilton Simpson hails from Pasco County.

Simpson is a successful egg farmer with a net worth of $25 million.

“People say, you’re so nice, how are your going to be a legislator, because you have to be mean or sometimes you have to be tough, so I tell them that..don’t mistake my kindness for weakness,” said Simpson.

What lawmakers won’t do while at the Capitol Tuesday is look at Florida’s unemployment system or the state’s COVID response.

Despite the pandemic and unemployment, voters in 17 out of 18 Florida counties voted higher taxes for themselves this week.

They ranged from funding a hospital to protecting children, but the majority of the hikes will to to fund schools.

Voters in ten counties voted to continue or raise property and sales taxes to fund schools.

Combined, the measures passed with 62.8 percent of the vote.

Political Scientist Susan MacManus said it should come as no surprise.

“I think its a message about education being a high priority, particularly to people with children. There’s a lot of frustration,” said MacManus.

The successful referendums follow 2018, when 21 of 21 counties voted to tax themselves for schools.

“You want to understand this suburban moms everyone talks about? Look no further than what’s affecting her children,” said MacManus.

But this year wasn’t unanimous.

In rural Liberty County a half cent tax referendum lost by 17 votes.

“It’s a front porch to our community, our schools are,” said Donnie Read, Liberty County GOP Chair.

Administrators there committed the cardinal sin of local tax referendums.

“We should have let them know what it was for. We should have had a campaign of some kind. You know, I just don’t think we did a very good job of doing that, you know,” said Read.

MacManus and the Florida School Boards Association have suggested the successful referendums should be taken by lawmakers as a message to provide more school funding from the state level.

Ten counties also raised taxes for Children’s services, protecting the environment and law enforcement.

Combined the 20 referendums averaged 65 percent of the vote, so it’s clear Floridians are not tax adverse, as long as they know where the money is going.

Voters also approved business tax breaks for new jobs in nine counties, and voters in Gilchrist County ended the last Sunday ban on alcohol sales in the state.

Democrats lost Florida by nearly four points.

It’s considered by some to be a huge margin in what has traditionally been a swing state.

They also took a beating in the state Legislature, even though tens of millions from out of state went to down ballot races.

Now there are calls for new party leadership.

Florida Democrats had high hopes that crashed on Election Day.

They lost three incumbents in the state House and lost two open seats vacated by Democrats running for the Senate.

Those who survived have had enough.

“The direction of our current leadership is not putting us on a path of building collective power. It’s transactional, it doesn’t address policies or issues that impact everyday people,” said State Representative Anna Eskamani.

The party also bet heavily on picking up open Senate Seats in Tampa and Seminole County.

It lost both.

Now it’s facing a recount in what was supposed to be a safe seat in Miami.

The margin is 21 votes.

The incoming Senate President expects the GOP to prevail.

“And if she wins, it will be 24, which would be one pick up in the Florida Senate,” said Senate President Designate Wilton Simpson.

Surviving Democrats blame the party for its tepid, almost non endorsement, endorsement of the minimum wage amendment, which got 6.3 million votes.

John Morgan, the man who bankrolled the minimum wage amendment, has been critical of the lone statewide elected Democrat, Nikki Fried, for not supporting the raise in wages.

A widely circulated tweet shows the corporate cash that flowed to the party.

“But, we are fearful of really amplifying because of threatening corporate donors,” said Eskamani.

Political Scientist Susan MacManus said the party put too much stock in out of touch consultants.

“You know, you can have the most money in the world but if you don’t spend it smarty, then you can lose. And there’s a lot of evidence of that here,” said MacManus.

In a statement, Democrats are taking credit for winning 225 local races.

The release makes no mention of their losses.

Pundits nationally are now calling Florida’s election system a model for the nation, but it took a national embarrassment to make it happen.

As votes are still being counted, voters in Pennsylvania are getting a message from their Governor.

“So it may take a little longer than we’re used to, even a few days, but that’s okay,” said Governor Tom Wolf in a televised PSA.

And on Fox News, Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had this to say.

“Florida was a national embarrassment in how it counted votes. Now, its the national model of efficiency,” said Huckabee.

But it didn’t come easily.

Florida has been the butt of jokes for nearly two decades.

In 2001, then State Representative Dudley Goodlet shepherded a massive change through the State Legislature.

“I think it happened because reasonable people who can disagree at times understood the importance of getting it right,” said Goodlet.

Just two members of the 160 member Legislature voted no.

The $32 million that was spent in 2001 would be worth about $50 million today.

It’s money those involved back then say was well worth it.

It is the framework of what we see today.

And now Governor Ron DeSantis is saying the long national shame is over.

“So, perhaps, 2020 was the year that we finally vanquished the ghost of Bush versus Gore,” said DeSantis.

Because of the pandemic, the Governor ordered mail ballots be counted early.

We didn’t get a chance to ask if that change will be made permanent.

The Governor also ridiculed Nevada, which stopped counting ballots overnight and said there may have been ulterior motives for the major networks not calling Florida when the outcome was known.

He didn’t specify what those motives may have been.

The Secretary of State says all 6,000 precincts opened on time across Florida Tuesday morning.

Technology issues were reported in two counties, and security was tight in the Capitol and elsewhere.

As polls opened, the 43 degree temperature was the coolest of the fall so far in North Florida.

“I wanted to get it over with and done before I head off to work,” said Leon County voter Emily Lockard.

Inside, it took the first voter seven minutes to cast the first ballot.

“I just felt like I don’t want to worry about signatures not matching if I dropped it in the mailbox. I just wanted to know my vote was going to count and not have to worry about it,” said Leon County voter Daniel Voyer.

“I always vote on election day,” said Leon County Voter Mary Rose Stone.

As of of 11 AM, 1.2 million mail ballots were still outstanding.

Thousands were being turned in at drop boxes across the state.

Security at the state elections office was beefed up and the Secretary of State acknowledged the National Guard was on alert.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the Florida national guard is activating a number of soldiers who will be available to assist the state, standing by to assist local law enforcement and their communities as needed,” said Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee.

One lawsuit was filed by and incumbent Hillsborough County judge who was eliminated in the primary.

Elections experts told us more suits will come.

How many depends on how close the results.

“Both sides are going to be looking very closely at either finding votes, or un-finding votes. And that’s really what causes the litigation,” said attorney Lori Killinger.

There have been complaints of long lines in some counties, prompting some to call it voter intimidation, but the law says voters still in line when the polls close will be allowed to vote.

Under state law, all elections lawsuits must be filed in the state’s capital.

In anticipation, the chief judge there has added three judges to the civil bench, just in case there is a flood of suits.

Florida was the laughing stock of the nation in 2000 and three statewide recounts in 2018 changed the outcome of the Agriculture Commissioner’s race.

Changes to Florida law have basically solved the problems of twenty years ago, but this election won’t be over until it’s over.

Unlike other states, votes in Florida are already being counted and have been for weeks.

By 7:30 Tuesday night, local supervisors will post the results for the nine million votes already cast.

But as we learned in 2000, Election Day isn’t the end.

“There are no winners on election night. I don’t care what the media says. The winners are determined once we’ve counted all the votes. And it takes a lot of time to count all the votes,” said Mark Earley, Vice President of the Florida Supervisors of Elections.

Nationwide, half the states allow mail ballots to arrive after election day.

Florida does not.

Monday began with 1.3 million mail ballots still outstanding and thousands of those mail ballots were being delivered to drop boxes across the state throughout the day.

“Anything we get late in the day on Election Day likely we will not have a chance to get all of the signatures verified for that, so those will be in process and we’ll get to those either on Wednesday or Thursday after the election,” said Earley.

One of those mail ballots belongs to Florida’s First Lady Casey DeSantis.

“I’m going to walk it in. I’m going to bring it into the voting precinct,” said DeSantis.

Voters with spoiled mail ballots have until 5 pm Thursday to fix a bad signature or other problem.

“Overseas military. I think those are important votes,” said Earley.

More than 103,000 mail ballots were sent to military stateside and overseas.

Totals for how many have been returned are unknown.

“If they come in, they’ve got up until ten days for us to receive their ballot,” said Earley.

Any of a handful of things can change a close race, which means this election won’t be over till it’s over.

Totals for recounts in races separated by less than a half of percent aren’t due until nine days after the election.

Final results aren’t due from the counties until the following Sunday the 15th and Florida won’t officially certify the results until Tuesday, November 17th.

Voters in at least two dozen counties are being asked to increase taxes on themselves or provide tax breaks for businesses creating jobs.

The success of local tax referendums is often related to how much control citizens have over the use of the funds.

There are more than 25 tax referendums in the hands of local voters around the state.

In nine counties, school boards are seeking to raise the sales tax by a penny, a half penny, or increase local property taxes.

Andrea Messina is the Executive Director of the Florida School Boards Association.

“There certainly are demands from their communities to upgrade or provide more services, or facilities depending on what it is that people are going for. And the districts do not have the funding currently to provide what the community is asking for,” said Messina.

The number of school referendums is actually down from two years ago when 21 were on the ballot.

All passed.

“So clearly the communities wanted to support their local school districts,” said Messina.

Another eight counties want to grant tax breaks for new or expanding businesses.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses isn’t taking a position on them, but told us the employment landscape is changing drastically.

“We’re seeing growth in manufacturing, in services, in construction. And if people want to get on with their lives they need to look at the opportunities that there are in those industries,” said Bill Here, Executive Director of NFIB Florida.

Four counties are seeking additional funding for police, fire, or other social needs.

Manatee County is asking voters to approve a $50 million bond to protect water resources and the environment, Holmes County wants to fund a hospital and Walton County has a tourist development tax on the ballot.

And two counties are asking voters to approve a half mil increase in property taxes for children’s services.

Pollsters we talked to said surveys before and during the pandemic show at most a one percent reduction in support for some taxes, but then added the caveat, they could be wrong on Tuesday.

Voter registration information is a public record in Florida, but it hasn’t always been that way.

It became public in 2006, but following Wednesday’s arrest of a 20-year-old Naples man for changing Governor Ron DeSantis’s address, supervisors plan to ask lawmakers to take the records out of the public view.

20-year-old Anthony Guevara is facing two felony charges for submitting changes to the Governor’s voting record.

His attorney, Mike Carr, said he is just a young man with too much time on his hands.

“And a on a lark thought he would see if he could access famous people, and that’s what he did,” said Carr.

Guevara’s online information shows he is a registered Republican.

“He doesn’t hate the Governor or anything. He was just playing around,” said Carr.

Leon County Elections Supervisor Mark Earley said the arrest within a day of when the Governor showed up to vote Monday afternoon, should be a message to others.

“Well, I think it speaks to the seriousness with which we take these kind of voter fraud instances,” said Earley.

But Carr said this should be a wake up call.

“If somebody had malice, you could go in and easily change hundreds of thousands of addresses and stuff and throw the election into chaos,” said Carr.

Earley said the ‘I’m not a robot’ feature prevents wide scale attacks.

Still, supervisors plan to revive an effort to remove voters’ registrations from public record.

“I think the key benefit is just peace of mind for voters. We get a lot of complaints that all of this information we give to you just so that we can vote is out there, public knowledge. That’s not what I signed up for,” said Earley.

It’s also important to know that when the address change form is submitted, it doesn’t actually change your voter file.

It goes into a cue, where local elections staff review it.

So any wholesale attacks would be noticed and thwarted.

Guevara is free on bond.

He is set to be arraigned before a judge on November 23rd, the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Both political parties and an army of lawyers are keeping an eye on the Duval County Canvassing Board.

In early October the board adopted a rule without public notice, restricting who could attend meetings and forbidding television cameras or cell phones from taking pictures at meetings.

Both are contrary to state law.

In the state capital and 65 other elections canvassing meetings, reporters are allowed in and so are their cameras.

The one exception is in Jacksonville, where the Duval canvassing board banned television and cell phone photos.

The First Amendment Foundation says it’s wrong.

“A ballot is a public record,” said Pamela Marsh with the First Amendment Foundation. “We have a Sunshine Law problem where the meetings aren’t open to the public. The press isn’t allowed to be in there, and we have a public records problem.”

After pressure, the Duval board on Tuesday started live streaming video of the questionable ballots, but there is no recording.

Unlike Jacksonville, Leon County and others allow observers to get up close and view questionable ballots and photograph them for possible future legal action.

Under state law, actions taken at meetings out of the Sunshine can be invalidated by a court, but lawyers tell us that would be a big ask because it could delay the counting of ballots.

“There are lot of lawyers in Duval county, watching this, wondering how to fix it,” said Marsh.

The rule change to not all photographs was voted on October 9th, but there was no mention of the rule change on the boards published agenda, which could be another violation of the Sunshine law.

In Leon County canvassing meetings photographers and observers have access to every mis-marked ballot.

Leon Elections Supervisor Mark Earley said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Transparency is the name of the game here to add trust to our elections process. So we very much like having cameras here and people,” said Earley.

And the First Amendment Foundation said voter confidence will suffer if voters aren’t sure their intent was considered by a canvassing board.

Of the almost 4 million mail ballots cast so far, 21,000 have been flagged for missing or mismatched signatures and time is running out for voters to return ballots that haven’t been cast yet.

More than 400,000 votes were cast Monday, bringing the total to 6.5 million.

With voter turnout already at 44.5 percent, this election is on track to beat 83 percent turnout record set in 1992.

Tuesday began with just under 2.1 million mail ballots outstanding.

Traffic at a Tallahassee drop off site was steady.

Poll workers helped identify ballots missing information before it was too late.

“Most of them come completely ready to put in the box,” said poll worker Valerie Witters.

Statewide, more than 21,000 mail ballots have already been flagged for missing or mismatched signatures.

Advocates caution time has run out to trust the post office with your ballot.

“At this point we are suggesting that you still go and drop off your ballot. We no longer encourage the mailing in of your ballot,” said Juanica Fernandes with State Voices.

And advocacy groups point out Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to have signature issues.

“After the August primary, 35,000 votes were rejected and projections for the current election are expected to be much higher,” said Brad Ashwell with All Votes are Local.

The advocates also pointed to Jacksonville, where the Duval Canvassing Board is refusing to let television camera’s view their decisions as they interpret voters’ intentions.

“There has been a lack of transparency when it comes to the canvassing board. We are highly alarmed,” said Mone Holder with New Florida Majority.

You can track your mail ballot online at your local supervisor’s website.

If there is a problem, you can file a cure affidavit to fix it.

Voters with ballot problems have until 5 PM on the Thursday after the election to file their cure affidavit.

Both Biden and Trump Campaigns are hiring armies of lawyers, just in case there are problems similar to the 2000 election when results weren’t official for five weeks. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the legal battle twenty years ago had already begun before the sun came up the day after the election.

Just after 5am on the morning after the 2000 election, the legal battle was already beginning. Frank Jimenez, the Governor’s top lawyer voice concerns to the State Elections Director about the then Democratic Attorney General.

“The AG is trying to hijack this process” said he Governor’s lawyer.

Attorney Barry Richard got the call at 6am from the Bush Campaign asking him to represent them.

“This year and ever since then, as a  matter of fact, the Presidential campaigns have either had legal teams in place all the time, or have put them in place well before the election.” 

Mark Herron’s phone rang even earlier. 

”I got a call about one AM” he told us. 

He became Al Gore’s attorney and is again working for Democrats.

”I can’t tell you what I’m doing.”

But Herron believes the fight will be over thousands of mail ballots.

“Not withstanding it says you are supposed to sign the ballot, they may print their name as opposed to sign it. That kind of invalidates that ballot unless there is a cure affidavit that can be filed within the period two days after the election.  It’s just gonna be, I think that’s where the battle is going to be.”

We asked Secretary of State Laurel Lee if 2020 could indeed be a repeat of 2000 in  Florida.

“We’re known for close elections” she told us, adding “But we are prepared to meet those challenges is they arise.”

But on that first morning after, no one we talked to, including then Governor Jeb Bush, imagined how the next five weeks would play out.

“There are no problems. The law takes care of all of this” Bush told us as he returned from Austin, Texas where he watched the results with his family.

And then the lawyers came.

Earlier this week, more than 12 thousand mail in ballots had already been flagged for signature problems. By state law, Supervisors must send voters a letter telling them of the problem.