- Florida’s Election Day party-registration tally showed Republicans ahead by nearly two to one as of Tuesday afternoon.
- Regular gasoline averaged $3.86 a gallon statewide, up from $2.96 a year earlier.
- The Florida survey interviewed 1,030 registered voters from October 1-5.
Miami-Dade voters raised immigration enforcement as they cast ballots on November 3, 2026, bringing raids and deportations into a congressional contest between Republican incumbent Maria Elvira Salazar and Democrat Eliott Rodriguez. Enforcement has become a recurring concern in conversations with voters and workers.
Foreign-born residents make up 55% of Miami-Dade County’s population. Stephanie Hernandez, a 27-year-old Cuban-American retail manager in North Bay Village, said employees had been detained or stopped coming to work out of fear.
“We just lost a lot of good, hard-working people due to these things,” she said. “Who else is going to do that job?”
Florida voters also chose statewide officers, members of Congress and state legislators, and voted on three proposed constitutional amendments. Immigration enforcement and household expenses sit alongside those races, not in place of them.
Florida voters back crime-focused enforcement but oppose some deportations
A Verasight survey for Wave Polling and Research found 70% favored focusing enforcement on undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes while offering paths to legal status to people who work and pay taxes. By contrast, 53% said removing long-term residents with no criminal record went too far.
Six in 10 Florida voters said mass deportation of immigrant workers was hurting the economy and raising costs for families. Those responses measure voters’ views, not a verified economic effect. The poll surveyed 1,030 registered voters online from October 1-5 and had a 4.4-point margin of error.
Florida’s statewide average for regular gasoline reached $3.86 a gallon on Election Day, up from $2.96 a year earlier and a record for the date. The figure gives voters a concrete cost to weigh, but it does not show how fuel prices changed any individual vote.
Jared Nordlund, Florida state director for UnidosUS, connected rising fuel and food costs with enforcement in describing Latino voter motivation. He said Latino voters and families were “probably more awake than ever to go vote.” He also described Doral small-business owners who were nearing closure because customers were afraid to go out.
Republicans held a nearly two-to-one Election Day voting advantage in party-registration reporting as of Tuesday afternoon. That tally does not indicate how voters marked their ballots or who won.
Supervisors investigated reports near polling places
In Monroe County, Supervisor of Elections Sherri Hodies launched an investigation after reports of masked federal agents conducting a stop at a Key Largo polling place. Both county supervisors contacted the FBI; the Monroe County investigation was later completed, but its findings were not provided.
In Leon County, Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley said agents seen at an early-voting site had come to vote before leaving Florida. He said they would not be there on Election Day.
“They were just there trying to vote before they got sent out of Florida,” Earley said. “They wouldn't be here for Election Day.”
The FBI told supervisors of elections at the annual statewide elections conference there would be no immigration enforcement at polling places. PolitiFact senior correspondent Amy Sherman called a mass deployment of ICE agents at voting sites “Highly, highly unlikely,” saying there are about 100,000 voting sites and nowhere near that many ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE was not planning operations targeting polling locations, while describing a possible response to an active public-safety threat. The incidents and concerns reported around voting sites have not established a coordinated intimidation campaign.
Voters with questions or concerns can contact their county supervisor of elections. Katherine Leiva said the Florida Election Protection Coalition’s “boiler room” connects reported polling issues with the relevant supervisor. Leiva also said it received reports of “unmarked police cars” within the “150 line” of polling sites.
Readers following local and statewide contests can check the Tallahassee Democrat’s Election Day updates.
