PINELLAS CO., Fla. (WFLA) – On Tuesday, Pinellas County was only one of two counties in the state to turn blue after going red in 2016.
Considered a “purple county,” with only a 4000-person difference between registered Democrats and Republicans, Pinellas County has determined who wins the presidency ever since voters picked former President George W. Bush in 2004. All eyes were on the county on Tuesday.
While there are more registered Democrats in Pinellas County, more Republicans voters turned out for the election. It eventually came down to independent voters who backed Biden, but just barely.More than half a million votes were cast. Biden narrowly won by thousands, an even smaller margin than the 5,500 votes that carried President Trump to win the county in 2016.
Workers spent hours canvassing votes as they came in Tuesday night.
“We do as much as we can as soon as we can. So we had a canvassing board here at 10 a.m. in the morning. We were canvassing at two, four, and six, and again throughout the night, so we’re continuing to process,” said Julie Marcus, the Supervisor of Elections in Pinellas County.
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