President Barack Obama won a second term on Tuesday, emerging from a long, punishing campaign with a new mandate to lead a divided and anxious nation.

"Tonight in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up," Obama said in a victory speech in his hometown of Chicago. "We have fought our way back and we know in our hearts for the United States of America, the best is yet to come."

For full Decision 2012 coverage, visit NBCNews.com.

Obama said his re-election came with a sense of accomplishment and a new surge of hope.

"Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over," he said. "And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you. I have learned from you. And you've made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and about the future and life ahead."

But the cold reality is that when he arrives back in Washington, the president will face the same obstacles he did before the election. With Republicans maintaining control of the House of Representatives, the era of political gridlock will likely continue.

That challenge was articulated by one of his most outspoken opponents, Sen. Mitch McConnell, leader of Senate Republicans.

"Now it's time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a closely-divided Senate, step up to the plate on the challenges of the moment, and deliver in a way that he did not in his first four years in office," McConnell said. “To the extent he wants to move to the political center, which is where the work gets done in a divided government, we’ll be there to meet him half way."

Obama's triumph unfolded incrementally Tuesday night, as he racked up a string of victories in crucial battlegrounds. One after another, states that had been deemed competitive swing states before Election Day fell into the president's hands.

Pennsylvania. Wisconsin. New Hampshire. Iowa. Virginia. With each Obama win, the path to victory for his opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, got narrower.

Finally, just after 11 p.m. ET, NBC News projected Obama to win Ohio, his so-called "firewall" and the one state that has sided with the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1960. Obama's win there, thanks in large part to the state's support of his bailout of the auto industry, handed him the Electoral College swing votes he needed.

Romney conceded the race in a phone call to the president just before 1 a.m. ET. He then took the stage at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, telling supporters that he wished the president well.

"This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney said.

Obama's battleground victories were so authoritative that Florida, which was considered the biggest  prize, wasn't even a factor.

Florida was the only state that remained too close to call as of 6:00 a.m. ET. Its results won't be known until after the start of business Wednesday. 

So many people turned out to vote Tuesday that Ohio, Florida and Virginia kept polls open long after official closing times to accommodate the people waiting in long lines that snaked from the doors of polling places.

Exit polls indicated that Obama was favored among women, young adults, singles and Latinos — the last group by wider margins than in 2008.

"Today is the clearest proof yet that, against the odds, ordinary Americans can overcome powerful interests," Obama wrote in an email to supporters.

The first person Obama called after getting the concession call from Romney was former President Bill Clinton, a campaign official told NBC News.

The former president was one of Obama’s top surrogates, and onlookers credited his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte with Obama's "Clinton bump" in the polls.

Obama, Romney and their proxies spent nearly $2 billion, a record amount for a presidential campaign.

In his concession speech, Romney said he had no regrets and hoped that the country would move past its partisan differences to solve the nation's problems.

"I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction," he said. "But the nation chose another leader."

Less than an hour later, at about 1:45 a.m. ET, Obama appeared before a roaring crowd at the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. His wife, Michelle, and their two daughters accompanied him on stage while Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" blasted. Then they left him to deliver his victory speech.

Obama congratulated Romney "on a hard-fought campaign."

“We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country, we care so strongly about its future," he said.

The president went on to say that the rancor and rift that characterized the campaign was understandable, given the nation's challenges.

"That won't change after tonight. And it shouldn't. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did today."

Obama, 51, the country’s first black president, won election in 2008 on a promise of hope and change, but he triumphed this time with a starkly different message: asking voters to stick with him as he continues trying to fix the economy and improve America’s standing in the world.

He defeated Romney, 65, a wealthy venture capitalist who’d been running for president for the better part of a decade. A win for Romney would have been vindication, of sorts, for his family; his father, George, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968.

The 2012 race highlighted two contrasting visions of the country. Where Romney emphasized the need to lower taxes, relax federal regulations and cut government spending, Obama promised to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and deploy government’s help in pulling the country out of the economic doldrums.

Despite his image as stiff and disinterested in the plight of the middle class, Romney managed to make the race close by appealing to many voters’ disappointment in Obama and widespread anxiety about the economy. Romney promised to bring a businessman’s sensibility to the job, a point he drove home in the first presidential debate, which he dominated. That performance sparked a surge in the polls that made the race tight right up until Election Day.

But Romney, in the end, was not able to fully convince an edgy public that he could do a better job than Obama. Nor was Romney able to overcome Obama’s image as a more likable guy.

Now Romney may well have run his last race for public office.

Obama will begin his second term no longer a symbol of political catharsis but as a flawed but adaptive leader who took a lot of lumps and learned from them.

The president's re-election means there will likely be no overturning of his signature domestic policy achievement, the 2010 health care reform law. Obama has also promised to raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year.

Obama must also make good on his campaign promises to finally correct America’s economic path by finding ways to add a million more manufacturing jobs, boost domestic energy production, reduce the county’s carbon footprint, shore up Medicare, cut students' college loan costs and slash the national deficit by $4 trillion.

When he returns to the White House, he won’t have much time to savor his victory, because he’ll face the threat of a year-end "fiscal cliff," when a series of tax cuts are set to expire and massive government spending cuts go into effect.

As he noted in his email to supporters Tuesday night: "There's a lot more work to do."

After many months, countless attack ads and nearly $2 billion raised and spent, the presidential campaign is finally coming to a close. To help put the long slog of a race into perspective, we’ve dipped into the archives and come up with a list of some of the campaign’s most pivotal, and memorable moments.

Rick Perry’s debate brain freeze

There was a time, more than a year ago, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry was considered the front runner among a strong field of Republican primary candidates that included Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, conservative talk radio host Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. But Perry had a crushing weakness: muddy debate performances. His string of live-action flubs culminated on Nov. 9, 2011, when he tried to name the three federal agencies he’d eliminate if he became president.

"It's three agencies of government when I get there that are gone," Perry said. "Commerce, Education, and the…what's the third one there? Let's see." Nearly a minute passed, as some of the other candidates tried to help him out with suggestions. But it did no good. “The third agency of government I would do away with - the education, the uh, the commerce and let’s see. I can’t the third one. I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” Later, he remembered: the Department of Energy. But it was too late. Perry was dogged by speculation that he would drop out. He vowed to fight on, but by January he was gone.

Cain withdraws from race

Even the most outsider candidates seem to have their surges of popularity, and for a brief time Herman Cain had his with a "9-9-9" tax plan. And then he fell just as quickly, as a series of women came forward with allegations that he had sexually harassed them while he ran the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Another woman claimed she had carried on a 13-year extramarital affair with him. Cain denied it all, but the charges overwhelmed his campaign, and on December 9, 2011, he dropped out, citing the “continued hurt on me and my family.”

Santorum shocks Romney

Perhaps Tom Brokaw said it best when he summed up Rick Santorum’s dogged candidacy by comparing the conservative former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania to a Hollywood action hero. "He's like a character in a Bruce Willis movie," Brokaw quipped during the head of the primary season. "He just knows how to stay alive.”

Santorum’s insurgency began with a surprising showing in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. The Iowa GOP originally announced Mitt Romney the winner by eight votes, but reversed itself less than two weeks later, when a closer count revealed that Santorum had won by 34 votes. The difference was more than just a few votes; it established Santorum as a force to be reckoned with, and he rode that momentum for months, picking up primary victories in February and March. Romney finally got the better of Santorum in April, reeling off three victories that resulted in Santorum withdrawing on April 4.

Biden forces Obama’s hand on same-sex marriage

Vice President Joe Biden is known for his spontaneity, which can catch even his closest allies off guard. At no time was was that more evident than on May 6, when Biden went on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and declared that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. The statement caught President Barack Obama by surprise, and effectively forced his hand on the issue. Obama had once stated his opposition to same-sex marriage, but had more recently conceded that his stance was “evolving,” and apparently intended to declare his support some time just before the Democratic National Convention in August. Instead, on May 9, Obama gave an interview the ABC News in which he endorsed same-sex marriage. "At a certain point, I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." Biden reportedly apologized to Obama for upsetting the president’s plans.

Romney clinches nomination

The race between President Obama and Mitt Romney officially began on May 29, when Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination with a landslide victory in Texas. The achievement was largely symbolic, because he was already considered the front-runner, and most of his challengers, including Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, had dropped out. Romney, whose father, George, a Michigan governor, failed in his run for the Republican nomination in 1968, vindicated that loss and became the first Mormon to become a major-party nominee. "I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy,” Romney announced. “And I am humbled to have won enough delegates."

Romney picks Paul Ryan

One of the biggest problems Romney faced as the GOP’s nominee was ambivalence from the party’s conservative wing. His solution was to pick Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. Ryan, the 42-year-old chairman of the House Budget Committee, was the author of a budget proposal that called for steep tax reductions, aggressive spending cuts, and a reorganization of the way Medicare and Medicaid operate. In short, Ryan was the answer to conservatives’ prayers: he was young, aggressive, well-spoken and, as a photo spread in Time illustrated, was in really good shape.

The choice highlighted the difference between the two campaigns on entitlements, taxes, the role of government in American life, and social issues, such as abortion. “There are a lot of people in the other party who might disagree with Paul Ryan,” Romney said at a rally in which he introduced Ryan. “I don't know of anyone who doesn't respect his character and judgment.” Ryan promised that he and Romney “won’t duck the tough issues. We will lead.”

Eastwood’s empty chair

On paper, Romney was the headliner of the Republican National Convention. But he was nearly outshone by an unlikely political speech-maker: Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood, who was introduced as a surprise guest just before Romney was scheduled to take the stage in Tampa on Aug. 30 and formally accept the GOP nomination. Working without a script or teleprompter, Eastwood, 82, delivered a long, rambling monologue that mocked Obama and Biden. He arranged for an empty chair to be brought on stage with him, and conducted an imaginary conversation with the president. The crowd of delegates roared, but the speech delayed Romney’s by 10 minutes and dominated discussion of the night’s events.

The Big Dog returns

Obama, too, was upstaged at his party’s convention. But unlike Romney’s choice of Eastwood, Obama pretty much knew what he was getting when he asked Clinton to formally nominate him at the Democratic National Convention’s second night in Charlotte on Sept. 5. The president and Clinton had never been close – their rivalry dated back to Hilary Clinton’s primary battle against Obama in 2008 – but they agreed to bury the hatchet in order to keep the White House in Democratic hands. Clinton, out of office for 12 years, clearly relished the opportunity to invoke the fiscal prosperity of the late 1990s that marked his second term as president, delivering a sparkling speech that argued that Obama deserved another four years to fix the economy. Clinton continued stumping for Obama through Election Day.

Romney’s “47 percent” remarks

America got a rare glimpse of an unexpurgated Mitt Romney in September, when Mother Jones released a secretly recorded video of the former governor speaking to wealthy donors in Florida. Taken by a small camera or cell phone resting on a table, the video captured Romney saying how he wasn’t trying to appeal to the “47 percent of the people” who will vote for Mr. Obama “no matter what.” These voters, he said, were “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.” The video threatened to upend his campaign, and Romney, who had battled a prevailing image of him as out of touch with middle-class voters, immediately sought to contain the damage. He conceded the remarks were “not elegantly stated” and insisted, “this is a campaign about the 100 percent.” But the quote dogged him for the rest of the race.

Romney dominates first debate

It was the wrong time for the president to take a nap. Just when Obama seemed to be pulling away in the polls, Romney routed him in the first presidential debate on Oct. 3. The Republican aggressively questioned the president’s ability to rescue the economy, but Obama often seemed uninterested in fighting back. Split-screen views of the debate showed Romney castigating Obama while Obama looked down as his lectern, grimly taking notes.

As front runner, Obama appeared to have adopted a strategy of caution, which rapidly backfired. Romney immediately gained ground in the polls, and pulled within striking distance of the president. Later, after he’d had a chance to review a tape of the debate, Obama conceded that he’d screwed up. In an appearance at a charity event with Romney, Obama joked about “the nice, long nap I had in the first debate.”

An unlikely hero to emerge from the first debate was Big Bird, after Romney put the character’s employer, PBS, on his hit list of government subsidies he’d cut. Immediately, supporters of Big Bird took to social media to defend the yellow-feathered victim. That weekend, Big Bird showed up on Saturday Night Live to defend himself.

Obama went on to rally in the second presidential debate, attacking Romney as a wealthy, far-right candidate who was masking himself as a moderate. At one point, the two men got in each other’s faces, appearing as if they might come into contact.

Their third and final debate, limited to foreign policy issues, was more subdued, and this time it was Romney who took a more cautious approach, while the president used sarcasm to mock Romney’s lack of experience in international affairs.

Sandy forces a pause in the race

Hurricane Sandy pummeled the Northeast a week before Election Day, forcing the candidates to briefly suspend their campaigns. As the devastation deepened, both men held off returning to the trail until after the worst was over. Whether the storm affects the race's result is a matter of debate, as questions remain about how millions of people still without power or access to transportation will get to the polls.

Election Day voting went fast and easy for some South Floridians while other voters waited hours in line and complained of malfunctioning machines and broken scanners.  

At Chapel Trail Elementary School in Pembroke Pines, voting got off to a rough start after a scanner for one of three precincts voting there died moments after the doors opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Residents who had already voted handed their filled-out ballots to staffers, who placed the ballots in a bag.

VIDEO: Aerial Footage of People Voting in Brickell

"They said, ‘Just trust us, that [our unscanned ballots] will be done at the end of the night,'" Debbie White-Maynes said of election staff.

White-Maynes continued: "It doesn't sit well with me, because it really strains the confidence I have in the voting process. It should be a smoother process, and we should be made to feel confident that our vote is going to count."

Polls Open in South Florida for Election Day 2012
 
Mary Cooney, a spokeswoman for Broward County’s Supervisor of Elections Office, said a scanner did go out at the polling site but said it was replaced. She said that when scanners malfunction, the office’s procedure is to place them in a sealed bag, then in a second sealed bag. At the end of the night, those ballots are the first ones counted, she said.

Polls were scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. But hundreds of South Floridians who were in line by 7 p.m. were allowed to stay after hours until their ballots were cast.  

Cooney on Tuesday afternoon said that overall, voting in Broward County had gone smoothly, with the exception of issues that surface every election. “We had replaced a number of scanners, because they were jamming but that happens in every election and it’s not problematic at all,” she said.

Some voters at Chapel Trail Elementary complained of a frustrating experience, saying they thought poll workers were unprepared. They said staff didn't explain the holdup and said many voters left the line, not wanting to wait longer.

Mack Vs. Nelson in Florida Senate Election

At Rick Case Hyundai in Broward, people were frustrated when ballots ran out, but new ones were brought in. Cooney said when supplies start to run low at polling sites, election workers make arrangements for their ballot inventory to be replenished. Cooney said the office fielded "a lot of supply calls" Tuesday.

At Pine Island Park in Davie, six precincts were voting at one building. At one point, one of two voting machines for a precinct broke, clogging lines. A new machine was brought in. It helped get voting back to speed.

In Miami-Dade County, a broken scanner caused a delay at the Greynolds Park Elementary precinct in North Miami Beach. The delay caused a delay of nearly an hour as a new scanner was brought in. Voters were given the choice of dropping their ballot in a box and having it counted later. Most chose to wait it out and have it counted on the spot.

South Florida Voting Details for Election Day

At Miami-Dade Elections Department in Doral, voters said computers crashed shortly after the doors opened to accept absentee ballots. The computers were operating again within about 20 minutes.

In Hialeah, at a polling place on East Eighth Avenue and 43rd Street, voters reported scanner issues and wait times between two to three hours. Some said they though having two precincts voting at the location was confusing.

"Today was a little long, I spent like three hours in this whole thing and as soon as I got into the line over there, they put me in the wrong line. They're not organized," Paul Onate said. "I stood in the line for 45 minutes longer, then once I got to the unit they reset it five times. So it's just been a challenging day but at least I got my vote through and that's what's important."

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

The marathon waits faced by thousands of voters in this month’s 2012 election should never have to happen again.  

That was the goal voiced by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Wednesday. He convened an election advisory group to identify what went wrong during the election and what steps can be taken locally to fix them.

Wednesday’s gathering by the advisory group was its second one this week.  At least two more meetings are expected before the group starts coming up with remedies.

"It's just not right that any voter in Miami-Dade County has to stand in line for five hours to cast a vote," Gimenez said.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

Supervisor of Elections Penelope Townsley gave a presentation about equipment, employees, the number of voters and ballots and the problems encountered.  “We will be looking at things like, ‘Do we need additional equipment to process absentee ballots quicker?’” she said.  

Townsley told the panel that the election was challenging. “We received an average of 2,000 calls a day that increased to more than 7,500 calls on Election Day,” she said.

Townsley said the state Legislature’s decision to cut early voting from 14 days to eight days, and to load up the ballot with long amendments, created some delays.

VIDEO: Aerial Footage of People Waiting in Line to Vote in Brickell

Gimenez agreed, but said the county shouldn’t let legislators’ decisions hinder local voting.

“We have the power to make sure in Miami-Dade County that it doesn’t happen again, no matter what they do in Tallahassee and so that’s what I’m committed to doing,” Gimenez said. “And everyone in that room is committed to doing that. We have to take care of our problems here.”

Gimenez appointed four county commissioners and nine prominent citizens to the group, including Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert III.  

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Gilbert said voters deserve a system that doesn’t require long waits.

"I think there's demand out there in the public to have an elections process -- whether it be absentee, early or Election Day -- that actually allows you to cast your vote reliably and easily,” Gilbert said. “It shouldn't take you a work day to vote.”

Voting advocates said Tuesday they want to meet with the Broward County supervisor of elections to fix problems related to last week’s election, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

The issues include nearly 1,000 unaccounted-for ballots were found in a Lauderhill warehouse and ill-trained poll workers who appeared to be overwhelmed by the amount of voters who turned out on Election Day, the newspaper reported.

"We want to go to Brenda with what we saw on Election Day, our concerns and where we scratched our heads," said Sandra Yeager, vice president of the Broward chapter of the League of Women Voters, of the supervisor of elections, Dr. Brenda Snipes. "There was disenfranchisement going on."

Snipes defended her department’s work, noting that she has run several elections in Broward.

"This election is run no differently than any other. The difference with this election, there was a close race between two presidential candidates, and pressure put on everyone to get the vote out. We're erring on the side of caution,” she said, the Sun Sentinel reported.

Broward Commissioner Lois Wexler said a committee of local officials and members of voter advocacy groups should work with Snipes to plan elections – though Snipes rejected such a proposal in 2008, Wexler said.

Broward was the last county, of 67 in the state, to finish counting ballots, as it announced the final results in the Dania Beach and Hallandale Beach city commission races Tuesday afternoon, the Sun Sentinel reported.

In Dania Beach Chickie Brandimarte claimed a seat on the city commission by 39 votes. In Hallandale Beach, Michele Lazarow defeated Anthony Sanders by one vote, 3,611 to 3,610, the paper reported.

An automatic recount and a manual recount were needed in both races, the Sun Sentinel said.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

The Broward County Canvassing Board will reconvene Tuesday morning to resume recounting ballots in a pair of races that remain too close to call.

An automatic machine recount is required in the city commission races for Hallandale Beach and Dania Beach, Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda C. Snipes said Monday.

The recount was required after the canvassing board determined the votes have 1/2 of 1 percent difference between the candidates, Snipes said.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

In Hallandale Beach, Anthony A. Sanders holds a razor-thin, five-vote lead over Michele Lazarow in a six-way race to fill two commission seats. The two are separated by .04 percent.

William "Bill" Julian has already claimed victory for the first seat with 25 percent of the vote.

In Dania Beach, Chickie Brandimarte holds a 16-vote lead over C.K. "Mac" McElyea, a 0.1 percent difference, for the third city commission seat. Walter B. "Duke" Duke III and Albert C. Jones have already won the other two seats.

Obama Wins Florida: NBC News

The recount will resume at the Voting Equipment Center at 1501 NW 40th Ave. in Lauderhill.

Ballots will be counted with voting machines and the canvassing board will authorize a manual recount if necessary, Snipes said.

Broward County finished counting absentee ballots, which leaves Palm Beach the lone outstanding county in Florida on Friday, an official said.

Mary Cooney, public services director for the Broward Supervisor of Elections, said the absentee ballots were completed at 11:45 p.m. Thursday, but provisional ballots were still being counted.

Chris Cate, spokesman for the Florida Department of State, said several counties are still going through provisional ballots. He said that 5 p.m. Thursday was the deadline for voters to bring in supporting documents to validate their provisional ballots.

Check out each county's status here.

As per statute, counties must in results over by noon Saturday, the fourth day after a general election.

Florida remained the only undecided state on the electoral map.

In South Florida, precincts faced scanner machine issues and long lines of voters, who stood, sometimes for hours, to cast their ballots. Some South Floridians were still in line in when NBC News called the race for President Obama.

Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections 'Embarrassed'

"We are going to be evaluating what we can do better and also we are looking at ways that counties might also be able to serve voters better," Cate said.

Decision 2012 Coverage

President Barack Obama was among those who got teary eyed Wednesday during a surprise visit to his Chicago-based 2012 campaign headquarters.

"What you guys have done means that the work that I'm doing is important, and I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of you," he said before choking up, turning his head and wiping away a tear.

The president spoke for about five minutes into a microphone while hundreds of volunteers, many of whom climbed desks to get a better vantage point, listened intently.

When the president's emotions became visible, the room erupted into applause in a unified show of support.

The Commander in Chief told the campaign workers he had no doubt they would go on to do "just amazing things."

 

"You guys are so much better than I was in so many ways," he said after recalling his move to Chicago at age 25 with a goal of public service but with little direction. "You're smarter and you're better organized and you're more effective."

Obama said that even before election returns started rolling in on Tuesday evening, the pride he felt for his team made him feel as though the work he'd done in running for office had come full circle.

"Your journey is just beginning. You're just starting and whatever good we do in the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come," he told them.
 

Nearly two days after the 2012 election, the Miami-Dade Elections Department on Thursday finished counting the county's more than 240,000 absentee ballots and provided its results to state officials, according to Supervisor of Elections Penelope Townsley. 

Miami-Dade’s counting delays helped Florida remain the only undecided state on the electoral map. At a press conference Thursday, Townsley said the challenges faced by the county's elections office would lead to improvements. 

"Generally, I think Miami-Dade County conducted a very good election," Townsley said. "Am I embarrassed or disappointed by some of the things that happened? Absolutely, but I have to focus on simply getting it right. And that is exactly what I will move to do."

According to preliminary data released Thursday on the state Division of Elections website, Miami-Dade drew a voter turnout of 883,989 – or roughly 67 percent of the county’s 1.3 million registered voters.

In Miami-Dade, President Barack Obama received 61.6 percent of the votes, compared to Republican Mitt Romney’s 37.9 percent, the election data showed. Excluded from the results Thursday were Miami-Dade’s provisional ballots, which election workers said they planned to start reviewing Friday. 

South Florida Voters Stood In Line Hours After Polls Closed

Thursday afternoon, the spokesperson for Florida's secretary of state speculated he won't have full results from the election until Saturday, NBC News reported.

"Best indicator we can give will [be] Sat when recount is called or not," the spokesperson, Chris Cate, said over Twitter. 

The Romney campaign will not contest the results in Florida, regardless of the final outcome, a top campaign official told NBC News.

In Miami-Dade, Townsley blamed the delays on the turnout, the large number of absentee ballots received Tuesday and the length of the ballot. It was five pages front and back.

"The incidences that occurred in this election are unfortunate,” Townsley said. “But the fact of the matter is we will use those lessons to improve upon already a very good process."

Since the polls closed Tuesday night, workers counted ballots nonstop, but absentee ballots took longer to tally than ballots from residents who voted in person, officials said. Absentee ballots go through several verification levels before they make it to a scanner, they said.

In Miami-Dade, 242,173 people voted by absentee ballot, the elections office said.

Voters Endured Delays Amid Election Day Glitches in South Florida

Voters in Miami-Dade stood in lines until the wee hours of Wednesday to cast their vote, even after Obama was declared the winner of the 2012 election. While Florida was still too close to call in the presidential contest, the winners of many local races were already decided.

"The turnout was something that caused us to have to deploy additional resources, additional equipment, and we will learn from those lessons,” Townsley said. “This election really establishes the consequences and the impact of paper in Miami-Dade County. We had the volume to deal with, we had the long ballot to deal with and it's an opportunity to make it right."

The long lines of voters added to a backlog, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said.

"And I want to personally apologize to those people that stood in line that long, for that period of time,” Gimenez said Wednesday. “That's certainly not something that I’m happy with.”

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

Townsley said an additional 200 voting booths and 400 employees were deployed to assist with the long lines but said they will take a look at everything that happened and figure out more changes that could be made to make voting more efficient.

"We will do a very comprehensive analysis of the activities that took place in this election," Townsley said, adding that an after-action report would guide improvements.

In a memo sent before the election, Townsley alerted the mayor about the long ballot and said she was deploying the maximum amount of voting units, but questioned whether they would be enough.

“The equipment of course that is available is always going to be dependent upon the funding that’s made available based upon the recommendation of the supervisor and what the county commission is willing to make available," said Ron Labasky, an attorney with the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections.

Joe Martinez, the outgoing chairman of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, said he doesn't recall them ever cutting down on election funding.

"As a matter of fact, we have overspent. If you can recall when we had the hanging chads and the butterfly ballots in Palm Beach and everything else back in 2000, people wanted the computer system, which we did," he said.

Martinez said the county spent millions of dollars on that system, before it changed to the optical scanners.

When Townsley was asked if her staff was overwhelmed or surprised at the absentee ballot turnout, she said they were prepared.

"We had to deal with a large volume, and we did everything that we could to make it happen," she said. "Over the past three days, we have been managing a 24-hour operation. Our commitment is to deliver convenient and accurate elections to our voters. We will not sacrifice the integrity of this election due to volume."

Friday, election workers intend to start reviewing provisional ballots, which are the paper ballots voters are forced to use if they cannot prove their eligibility at the polls.

Between the time Tuesday's presidential race was called and the time Barack Obama took the stage at Chicago's McCormick Place to accept his victory, the president made and received two very important phone calls.

"He spoke with President Clinton. He wanted to call President Clinton after Gov. [Mitt] Romney called because President Clinton was valiant on behalf of this campaign, and, as the president said, [was] our most valuable player," Obama's Chief Campaign Strategist David Axelrod said Wednesday.

"He really wanted to share the moment with him," Axelrod added.

For the most part, Axelrod said Election Night was mostly stress-free.

"The tense time is before the votes start getting counted," he recalled. "As soon as the votes start getting counted, you have models. You can see where the votes are coming in from. We knew very quickly that it was going well."

After a night's sleep at his Hyde Park-Kenwood home, an invigorated and newly re-elected President Obama stopped by his 2012 campaign headquarters in the Prudential Building to meet with the hundreds of volunteers who helped in the effort to secure another four years.

"It was a really emotional visit," Axelrod said. "There were a lot of tears flowing up there and a lot of joy."

Some of the staffers stood on desks to get a better glimpse of the president as he spoke to those who, as Axelrod said, "worked their hearts out."

"He talked about what public service means ... I think the most powerful thing he said was he talked about his own career as a young community organizer and he said to them what inspires him so much is, 'You're so much better than I was. You know so much more,' and he said, 'You give me hope.'"

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For Axelrod, it was his last hurrah in politics.

Back in January, Axelrod announced that he would head to the University of Chicago to create a new Institute of Politics meant to rival the Harvard Kennedy School. The University of Chicago Institute of Politics opens officially in 2013, but began offering preliminary courses in Summer 2012.

Auburndale Elementary School mom Barbie Rudoli had her eyes peeled for one election result Tuesday night.

“As I was watching the news, all I was looking for (was) 222,” she said, referring to a bond referendum for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. “Was it approved? Was it approved? Yes! It was approved. Changes are coming.”

They’ll be coming in the next five to seven years. With the passage of initiative 222, the Miami-Dade school board plans to use $1.2 billion to bring every county school up to code, and into the 21st century with new technology.

Sixty-nine percent of voters supported the measure and 31 percent voted against it, according to unofficial results from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.

The bond will cost the average homeowner about $5 per $100,000 of taxable property in its first year, according to the school district.

Auburndale mom Ivette Molina says the school is in dire need.

“My sister, my nephew, my nephew's now 16, and when he was little, he came to this school,” she said.

The school is 64 years old, and its age is showing. Its walls bubble up after years of soaking rains. Its roof is so leaky that its white ceiling tiles are turning tan, and its bathroom sinks so old that they're falling off the walls.

And students are asking questions, Rudoli said.

“Why does my school have to look like this?” she recounted. “So, it's heartbreaking when you hear those comments from especially the older kids who notice these details.”

School board member Raquel Regelado helped rally support for the measure, pointing out that Miami-Dade’s crumbling schools have been an open secret for far too long.

“Auburndale is one of them, Coconut Grove Elementary is another school where I know parents that don’t allow their children to go to the bathroom, because the bathrooms are so nasty,” Regelado said. “We have to be honest about that.”

About half of the county's schools are 40 years old, and more than one-third are at least 50.

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President Barack Obama was re-elected Tuesday, but there were signs this was coming, and we’re not talking about early polling.

One sign came in the form of Halloween and the sale of candidate masks.

"I know a lot of people are doing Mitt Romney with a hoard of PBS characters, like Big Bird and Elmo, but I'll probably go with Obama," Steven Garcia from Pembroke Pines said before the day of costumed celebrations.

Candidate masks have been available for six elections now, and for the last five, the one whose mask sells the most wins the presidency.

"I guess that makes sense because more people want to be like the president, so I guess they are projecting that the president will be whoever they walk around as," said Eugene Burns of Pembroke Pines.

VIDEO: Political Halloween Masks

Another predictor? Football. Since 1988, the winner of the Miami-Florida State game in an election year predicts which party wins the state. An FSU win goes to the Democrats, and a Miami victory to the Republicans.

Other fun facts:

• President Obama’s re-election is the first time the United States has elected three two-term presidents in a row. The last such consecutive winning streak happened nearly 200 years ago with presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe.

• The Democrats didn’t officially get their blue color or the Republicans their red until 2000. Before that, it flip-flopped, but the media wanted something concrete.

• Both candidates broke tradition and did some campaigning on Election Day. President Obama did interviews with radio TV stations and former Massachusetts Gov. Romney visited two battleground states, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

• In Kenya, two newborn twins are named Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

• What if there is a tie in electoral votes? In that case the House of Representatives gets to pick the president, but the Senate picks the vice president.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

Comedian Roseanne Barr is used to getting laughs but on Election Day 2012 the TV star got a surprising amount of votes in Florida.

Barr, who was running for president on the Peace and Freedom ticket with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, garnered more than 8,000 votes in the Sunshine State, according to the Florida Division of Elections.

Her 8,008 votes were good for fifth in Florida, behind the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Green party candidates with .1 percent.

In Broward County, Barr and Sheehan took home 353 votes, or .05 percent, according to the supervisor of elections. Miami-Dade elections department officials said they didn't have final totals for Barr.

Ballots Still Being Counted in Miami-Dade Wednesday

The Florida county with the strongest support for Barr was Pinellas, where she received 592 votes, good for .13 percent. She received 522 votes in nearby Hillsborough County, according to unofficial results released Wednesday.

Results for the "Roseanne" star were similar throughout the state. In Brevard, Barr took home 411 votes, while Pasco County voters cast 453 ballots for Barr.

Election Day 2012 By the Numbers

Palm Beach residents gave Barr 325 votes, with Polk County voters cast 392 for the 59-year-old.

In addition to Florida, Barr was on the ballot in California and Colorado. Her key issues focused on the legalization of marijuana, less power for the federal reserve and clean water preservation. 

After the election was called for President Barack Obama, Barr tweeted her congratulations and a message to followers.

"To my fans: yes I will start being funny again now!" she wrote.

Obama: 'The Best is Yet to Come'

The most important number for President Barack Obama on Election Day was 270, the number of electoral votes needed to clinch his re-election. But for the rest of us, the culmination of the marathon 2012 presidential race provided a host of other fascinating figures.

From the numbers of women elected to the U.S. Senate to the stack of Donald Trump's disgruntled tweets after the race was called for Obama, here is a numerical guide to Election Day 2012:

303 – The number of electoral votes Obama was projected to have won as of Wednesday morning, with Florida still too close to call, according to NBC News. He needed 270 to win reelection.

206 – The number of electoral votes former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was projected to have secured, as per NBC News.

2,625,875 – The number of votes separating Obama and Romney in the popular vote count with 97 percent of results in, according to NBC News.

118 million – The number of Americans who voted in the presidential election, with 97 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press. The number is sure to rise.

131 million – The number of people who cast ballots for president back in 2008, according to the AP.

71 – The percentage of Latinos who voted for Obama in this election, NBC News reported. Latinos represented 10 percent of the electorate.

27 – The percent of the Latino vote that Romney received, the lowest for any Republican in a generation, according to Slate.

89 – The percentage of all votes Romney won that came from whites, compared to 56 percent for Obama.

327,452 –- The peak number of tweets per minute after networks called the election for Obama at 11:19 p.m. ET. Twitter said the moment was its most-tweeted moment of Election 2012 by far.

396,372 – The number of new Facebook "likes" Obama received on Election Day.

20 — The number of women who will occupy the U.S. Senate come January, which will be a record high, NBC News reported.

53 —The number of U.S. Senate seats NBC News projected Democrats held. Another seat was held by Democratic-caucusing Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, and a seat in Maine was won by Independent Angus King, who Democrats were confident would vote with them although he refused to say with whom he would caucus.

12:50 – The time early Wednesday morning that Romney called Obama to congratulate him on his victory, according to the Boston Globe.

43 – The number of applause interruptions during Obama's victory speech, according to a transcript of the president's speech.

1,118 – The number of words in Romney's prepared victory speech, according to the AP.

455,000 (and counting) – The number of people who retweeted President Obama’s "four more years" message with a photo showing him hugging his wife, according to Twitter.

9 – The number of tweets sent by Donald Trump after Obama was declared winner -- that Trump didn't delete later -- starting with "Well, back to the drawing board!" and concluding with "House of Representatives shouldn’t give anything to Obama unless he terminates Obamacare." Trump deleted other tweets alleging Obama lost the popular vote and calling for "revolution," Mashable reported.

4 in 10 – The ratio of voters who said in exit polls they thought the economy is getting better, according to the AP.

10 – The number of defeated Democratic House incumbents, according to Politico.

12 – The number of defeated Republican House incumbents, per Politico.

2 – The number of states (Maine and Maryland) that approved gay marriage by popular vote, bringing the total number of states where same-sex marriage is legal to eight.

0 – The number of states where voters had previously voted in favor of allowing gay marriage.

1 – The number of members of Congress with backgrounds as reindeer ranchers and Santa Claus impersonators, according to the Detroit Free Press.

7.9 – The U.S. unemployment rate on Election Day, according to the Bureau of Labor Standards.

973,759 – The number of Hurricane Sandy victims still without power on Election Day, according to the Department of Energy.

15 – An estimate of the percentage decline in New York voter turnout compared from 2008 levels, according to the AP.

32 million – The number of early and mail-in ballots cast in 34 states and the District of Columbia before Election Day, according to the AP.

$3.46 – The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline on Election Day, according to the AP.

Alexandra Ward and Sam Schulz also contributed to this report.

Florida was the only state that remained too close to call Wednesday as votes in Miami-Dade were still being counted a day after President Barack Obama won a second term.

Poll workers scanned absentee ballots all day long and into the night Wednesday at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department headquarters in Doral.

About 10,000 absentee ballots had been counted by Wednesday evening, with another 10,000 still to be tallied.

”We received 20,000 absentee ballots in our possession before 7 p.m., and this is a really high number. We've never had this volume of absentee ballots turned in the afternoon of Election Day," said Carolina Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections.

Election officials blamed that volume, and the length of the ballots, for the delay in reporting the county's results – which in turn is holding up the state's voting results.

”The volume of absentee ballots that have come in, it grows in popularity one election after the other. In addition to the number of pages that we have to process, that's why we're still reading," Deputy Supervisor of Elections Christina White said. "It's not due to any issues at all, it's volume-driven.”

But critics like Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez don't buy it. The absentee ballots are one thing, he says, but another are the enormous lines he saw at polling sites like one in Brickell that closed at 1:30 a.m.

”And I want to personally apologize to those people that stood in line that long, for that period of time. That's certainly not something that I’m happy with,” Gimenez said.

Thirteen extra poll workers were sent to the Brickell site Tuesday night, and overall about 10 percent of the precincts stayed open past 10:30 p.m., according to the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections.

Gimenez said his administration will look into why the long lines happened.

"Who's responsible for that to happen? Did we have the proper equipment, did we have the right
number of personnel?" he said. "Obviously we didn't do something right in those precincts."

The absentee ballots were counted throughout the night on Tuesday.

"We're very optimistic that we'll be done by this afternoon," White said at a news conference on Wednesday.

That did not happen.

"This may not necessarily be a quick process," Supervisor of Elections Penelope Townsley admitted.

Looking to future elections, she said, "There are lessons to be learned, and we will be considering all the activity that took place during this election and making those decisions for efficiencies."

South Florida Voters Stood In Line Hours After Polls Closed

White said the steps for reviewing an absentee ballot include putting it through an automated system, verifying the signature, a possible review by the canvassing board and opening them and putting them through vote tabulators.

"We want to make sure the integrity of that process is upheld and we follow all those steps properly so we've been working through the night," White said, adding that workers were placed on 24-hour shifts to complete the process.

The results are being reported to the state elections department every 30 minutes, White said. Provisional ballots will be counted on Thursday and Friday.

Voters in Miami-Dade stood in lines until the wee hours of Wednesday to cast their vote, even after Obama had been declared the winner of the 2012 election. While Florida was still too close to call in the presidential contest, many local races had already been called.

White said some precincts remained open past midnight, about five hours after polls were supposed to close, with the last ones finally closing around 1:30 a.m.

One busy nighttime polling site was Miami Fire Station No. 4, where voters were in line outside the station just before 11 p.m. and were handed pizza by firefighters. Those allowed to wait in line after hours were voters who arrived at polling sites by the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time.

Some voters at South Kendall Community Church in the Hammocks said they waited around five or six hours to cast their ballots.

Voters Endured Delays Amid Election Day Glitches in South Florida

"I did decide to stay this long after I saw the line," Andre Murias said. "It's my first time voting, so I thought I'd make it memorable."

Voter Andre Martin didn't finish voting until around midnight.

"There was definitely some frustration, because I would have liked to put in my vote before I knew what the results were going to be," he said.

White said that in addition to the large number of absentee ballots turned in Tuesday, the length of the ballot and the number of pages that have to be processed contributed to the delay.

She said turnout in Miami-Dade was around 65 percent.

"All in all, our precincts ran very smoothly," White said. "Yes, we did have lines and in some cases very long lines, we understand that and we'll be reviewing that after the election as we typically do to see how improvements can be made."

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

Cheers erupted at a home in Davie Tuesday night after Scott Israel called himself the new Broward County sheriff over incumbent Al Lamberti.

"I thank my kids, my in-laws, this beautiful lady, I thank my wife, just thank everybody," Israel said.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Israel had 53.31 percent of the vote to Lamberti's 46.69 percent, according to the Broward Supervisor of Elections.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

Israel had been defeated in 2008 by Lamberti, a registered Republican who managed to secure a win in the Democratic stronghold of Broward.

Through the race, Lamberti had emphasized partisan politics don't come into play for him when it comes to saving lives.

"I stand for victims, and again, victims aren't Republicans or Democrats, they're people," Lamberti said before the election.

VIDEO: Lamberti Talks With Media on Election Day

At a party thrown at a friend's home in Davie Tuesday night, Israel, a registered Democrat, essentially called himself the underdog in the race, citing fewer resources than his opponent.

"When you go into a campaign, you go in and you get volunteers, and you get campaign helpers and you get supporters," Israel said. "I had none of that, I had friends, it was just friends who were committed to me and I was committed to them."
 
Even the victory parties the campaigns planned were markedly different. While about 100 or so of Israel's friends and supporters packed into the backyard of the Davie residence, Lamberti's was at the Signature Grand, where he was introduced with pomp and circumstance preceded by bag pipes and drums.

Voters Endured Delays Amid Election Day Glitches in South Florida

During his campaign, Lamberti touted his efforts to tackle problems affecting Broward, like decreasing the number of pill mills, and battling identity theft. 

After Israel made his victory speech, Lamberti declined requests to speak until all the results came in.

Wednesday morning, he posted a brief message on his Facebook page, thanking his supporters.

"I have spent the last 35 years of my life at the Broward Sheriffs office serving the people of Broward County. It has been my honor and privilege to serve you," Lamberti wrote. "I have witnessed many positive accomplishments and milestones at BSO and I will always be proud of the BSO family."

He went on 850 WFTL to defend his record and his name later.

Lamberti was first appointed sheriff in 2007 before his election win the next year. He told NBC 6 South Florida he's still trying to come to grips with leaving the BSO.

"It’s going to be disturbing, but again, I’ve said before, it’s not the Al Lamberti Sheriff’s Office. It’s the Broward County Sheriff’s Office," he said. "And again, when you give 35 years of your blood, sweat, tears and soul to an agency, to have it ripped out from underneath you, it’s shocking, it really is.”

Minutes after declaring victory Tuesday night, Israel said he was ready to get to work and ready to start carrying out the platform he ran on.

"Reducing crime, enhancing the quality of life, diversifying the work force. And keeping kids out of jail," Israel said.

At a Glance: Broward Sheriff, Local Congressional Races and Proposed Amendments

As it became clear that President Barack Obama was headed for another term in office, the most digitally savvy leader of the free world took to Twitter.

 "This happened because of you. Thank you," he tweeted, with a photo of him hugging first lady Michelle Obama, captioned "Four more years."

In the minutes that followed, the photo broke the record for most retweets, wrestling the crown from Justin Bieber.

Meanwhile, celebrities, journalists and politicos of all stripes weighed in on Obama's re-election, none with as much unhinged fervor as Donald Trump.

A selection of the night's highlights:

Elizabeth Warren took back a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts for Democrats after beating Republican Sen. Scott Brown, helping her party hang onto its majority in the chamber, according to NBC News projections.

With 95 percent of the vote in, the Harvard law professor and consumer advocate had 54 percent of the vote compared to 46 percent for Brown, NBC News reported.

"For every family that has been chipped and squeezed and hammered, we're going to fight for you," Warren said in a victory speech Tuesday night. "We're going to fight for a level playing field and we're going to put people back to work."

Warren's projected victory came after a tough, contentious battle against the incumbent, who stunned the political establishment in 2010 when he won the seat held for 47 years by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. She will become the first woman to represent Massachusetts in the Senate.

Warren, 63, had the backing of the president, who tapped her to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and gave her a prime speaking spot at the Democratic National Convention this fall. She cast herself as a champion of consumers, the middle class and women, who overwhelmingly supported her bid, according to The New York Times.

Brown, 53, portrayed himself as a moderate everyman in a state dominated by Democrats.

"You've got no business in politics unless you respect the judgment of people," Brown said in a concession speech Tuesday. "And if you run for office, you've got to be able to take it either way, winning or losing, and I accept the decision of voters."

The race drew national attention for the amount of money poured into it — at least $68 million, according to The Associated Press — and for several flaps that came out of the months-long contest.

It was Warren's speech about the role of government in private sector success that morphed into the "you didn't build that" line Republicans used against the president.

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own, nobody," Warren said last August, according to the Los Angeles Times. "You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for, you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate, you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for."

President Obama riffed on that speech with his own, which became fodder for the Mitt Romney campaign and led to accusations that he was anti-business.

Warren also came under scrutiny after admitting that she had identified herself as a minority, claiming Native American ancestry in a law faculty directory. 

Whether you call it a swing, battleground or purple state, there's no denying Florida could very well be the key to winning the 2012 election for either President Barack Obama or GOP challenger former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

With 29 electoral votes, Florida is tied with New York and behind only California and Texas in clout. And with the other three states already all but decided, a win in Florida could mean four years in the White House.

"This will be the state that makes the difference," said Charles Zelden, professor of political science at Nova Southeastern University. "Any way you cut it, it’s gonna be close."

With the exception of 1992, Florida has picked with the winner in nine of the last 10 elections, and many believe the Sunshine State will pick the winner this year.

"It's very representative of the rest of the country," Republican Party of Florida communications director Brian Burgess told NBC 6 South Florida. "As goes Florida, so goes the nation."

The importance of Florida has been reflected in the numerous visits throughout the state by the candidates, as well as the tens of millions of dollars spent on political advertising.

"Florida is an important swing state, we always have been and always will be," Democratic Party of Florida communications director Brannon Jordan said. "Florida is increasingly growing more diverse and has turned more Democratic on a wide array of issues."

This year there are 11.93 million voters in Florida, with 4.78 million registered Democrats and 4.24 million registered Republicans, according to the Florida Division of Elections. Another 2.57 million are unaffiliated.

The three largest voting blocs are whites (7.93 million), Hispanics (1.66 million), and African-Americans (1.62 million). There are 3,552,032 whites registered as Republicans to 2,543,334 registered as Democrats.

Democratic Hispanics outnumber Republicans 644,878 to 476,488, while Democratic African-Americans hold a large majority over African-American Republicans at 1,341,496 to 59,748.

"The key factor to look for in Florida is what is the percentage of Latino votes," Zelden said. "If they come out in large numbers to vote, it changes the ballgame."

While the traditionally Republican-leaning Cuban-Americans in the Miami area will have their effect on the Florida race, Zelden believes Latinos outside of South Florida could be a bigger factor.

"The key to winning Florida is the I-4 corridor and in particular the Latin vote, namely Puerto Ricans," he said. "And it sounds like a lot of the Puerto Rican vote is Democratic-leaning."

Zelden said it will be a matter of who shows up to vote.

"Latinos tend to underperform, they don't vote in numbers that they should," he said. "It's who shows up to vote that matters, not who people want."

While Florida saw record voting in 2008, largely due to the popularity of Obama, Zelden said it appears there's less enthusiasm this year.

"I think Florida probably will vote in large numbers, whether it will be record numbers like we had four years ago, I don't know," he said, adding that early voting has shown promising signs. "There's a potential for a very big turnout in this election, people are going and standing in line for an hour or two to vote."

While the state voted solidly in favor of Obama in '08 and George W. Bush in '04, the 2000 battle between Bush and Al Gore remains in the minds of many Floridians when it comes to elections.

After nearly a month of recounts and a controversial Supreme Court ruling, Bush won Florida by the slimmest of margins - 537 votes out of more than 5.8 million - securing the win over Gore in the national election. 

Frustration and anger nearly boiled over in Doral after the Miami-Dade Elections Department announced it would provide and accept ballots Sunday.

A long line quickly formed outside the elections department headquarters after the announcement that voters would be allowed to cast in-person absentee ballots for for four hours.

But so many voters showed up that election officials said they were overwhelmed and closed their doors.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

"They said 'I'm sorry, there's one printer, and only two people are here, come back tomorrow," said Diana Machado, who stood in line waiting to fill out an absentee ballot.

According to the Miami Herald, the problem wasn't printers or people but the fact that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez never signed off on the additional absentee voting hours.

“That was counter to what I said on Friday, which was we were not going to change the game mid-stream," Gimenez told the Herald. "I said, 'No, there’s no way we did this.’”

Frustrated voters began to shout "Let us vote! Let us vote!" and banged on the doors as tempers flared.

Obama Rallies in Hollywood

About an hour later, the doors reopened and poll workers handed out tickets to those who lined up before 5 p.m., and cooler tempers prevailed.

Like so many waiting, Juliet Velazquez says she decided to vote absentee because she was discouraged by six hour long wait times at local early voting locations.
 
"We had [an early voting location] within walking distance from our home and the line was three blocks long. We said 'there's no way we'll stand in that,'" Velazquez said.

There will be absentee voting again on Monday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
 
Last year, Governor Rick Scott and the Republican-led legislature rolled back the number of early voting days from 14 to 8. The measure put an end to early voting on the last Sunday before election day. 

Florida Democrats File Voting Lawsuit

The last minute move by the Miami-Dade Elections Department found a way around that provision, permitting voters to cast in-person absentee ballots.

"The one thing that we are allowed to do by state law, is to provide this service, absentee ballots, at our office," said the deputy supervisor of elections, Christina White.

The Florida Democratic Party had filed a lawsuit earlier Sunday to extend early voting, but White said opening the department Sunday had nothing to do with the lawsuit.

Some voters were disappointed Scott did not use his executive power to extend voting hours, despite requests by some elected leaders.

"I think its ridiculous that the Governor did not extended voting hours, or voting days. I'm not happy," said Michael Gach.

More Local News

Jeffrey Garcia, spokesman for the Joe Garcia for Congress campaign, said the voting hours extension disenfranchised voters who didn't live near the Doral location and had the appearance of "partisan game playing."

"This is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters and a perversion of the voting process. If today's voting changes the outcome of any partisan race, there are grounds for challenging the legitimacy of the vote," Garcia said in a statement. "If this was not intended to be a partisan tactic, we urge the Supervisor of Elections to extend early voting opportunities throughout the county."

Some voters said the situation in Doral was not much different than their experience during the 2008 Presidential Election.

"The line went into the parking lot. I was here maybe six hours by the time I voted," said Elizabeth Gutierrez, the last absentee voter in line.

A Philadelphia court judge ordered poll workers to cover up a mural of President Barack Obama that was inside a polling place at a local school.

The uproar started when upset voters began circulating pictures via social media after voting at Ben Franklin Elementary School Tuesday morning.

The Republican Party quickly took action, filing a lawsuit that claimed illegal electioneering. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason issued this statement on PAGOP.ORG.

“Whether it’s blocking Republican Election Day workers form doing their job or violating Pennsylvania law by electioneering in the polling place, it is clear the Obama campaign has taken their campaign in the gutter to manipulate this election however they can.  Based on the Obama campaign’s behavior today, it certainly raises the question: what are Democrats doing in the polls that they are working so hard to shield folks from monitoring this election?”

Judge Milton Younge, Jr. of the Court of Common Pleas ordered that the mural be covered for the rest of election day with "blank paper or similar material" and "in its entirety," according to NBC News' Pete Williams.

As of 2 p.m., the mural was not entirely covered. NBC10 snapped a picture showing three sheets of paper covering the president's face.

In other Pennsylvania election news, a Department of State official told The Associated Press that a voting machine was recalibrated and put back into service after a Perry County voter reported that it had switched his switched his vote from Obama to Mitt Romney.

The presidential campaigns made their final push for votes in Florida Monday as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and First Lady Michelle Obama are both held rallies in the Sunshine State.

Romney spoke at a victory rally at the Avion Jet Center in Sanford early in the morning, where he made his final drive for votes in front of a Florida audience and took some shots at President Barack Obama.

"His plan for the next four years is to take all the ideas from his first four years, you know, the stimulus, the tax increase, the borrowing, Obamacare, and do them all over again," Romney said. "He calls this plan 'forward,' I call it 'forewarned.'"

Romney is also visiting Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire on Monday.

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama made her last solo campaign stop at Southport Park in Orlando Monday evening. She began her remarks by focusing on the victims of Superstorm Sandy.

She then thanked supporters, including singer Ricky Martin, who got the crowd energized beforehand. "And of course I want to thank the gorgeous, the incomparable, Ricky Martin," she said.

Complete Decision 2012 Coverage

“This is my final solo stop, and I’m glad to be here with you all, I really am," said Michelle Obama, who said she would meet the president for a rally in Des Moines, Iowa a few hours later.

She recounted the accomplishments of her husband's administration – and said the country’s only choice is to keep going forward with him as its leader.

“Yes, all of the progress that we made, all of it’s at stake tomorrow. It’s all on the line. And as Barack has said, this election will be even closer than the last one," she said. "That is the only guarantee, so just know that. And it will all come down to what happens in a few key battleground states, like right here in Florida, this state. You all have the power."

President Obama made a campaign stop at McArthur High School in Hollywood on Sunday, where he urged supporters to vote with the help of rapper Pitbull.

Obama is spending Monday in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa.

In South Florida Monday, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush campaigned for Romney at a get-out-the vote event at Broward College in Davie.

Anger and Chaos in Miami-Dade for Sunday Voting