Voters across the Bay area and the state are hitting polling locations today to have their say in the future of Florida.

From governor to Congress to constitutional amendments, there are big races to be decided today. Polls close today at 7 p.m.

In the Bay area, the races for governor and attorney general, as well as the medical marijuana amendment, are huge issues, as is the Greenlight Pinellas transportation initiative. There are also State House races and local school board and commission seats up for grabs.

And despite strong early voting numbers, many Bay area voters are still turning up at locations today to vote in person.

  • In Pinellas County, election officials said about 42,000 voted Tuesday across the county.
  • Three Hillsborough County precincts in Seffner had power outages but used battery backups. Officials said the problems were more with lighting than any of the voting machines.
  • As of midday, Pasco County had a 34 percent voter turnout and no reported issues.
  • Manatee County's Supervisor of Elections office reported almost 22,000 voters casting ballots today by early afternoon.
  • Polls were problem free and hosting a steady stream of voters across Polk County, officials there said.
  • Minor problems with a voting machine were corrected and there were no further issues in Hernando County, where a 34 percent turnout was recorded by midday.
  • In Citrus County, a little more than 6,000 voters cast ballots by noon.

"I was trying to get into work early today and wanted to beat the crowd," said Jared Schneider after he and a friend voted at the Coliseum polling location in St. Petersburg. "We were actually numbers one and two at our polling location so that was pretty nice to do that."

With the governor's race between Charlie Crist and Rick Scott in a dead heat, Bay News 9's political analysts said the results could very well hinge on which party gets more people to the polls.

The Florida Secretary of State's office said 3,066,735 people have voted early for by absentee ballot through the final day of early voting on Sunday, which is 26 percent of Florida's registered voters.

Experts also predict it could be a long night.

A machine recount of all votes is required if the margin between two candidates is half a percentage point or less.