night coverage. your vote counts 2016.>> i'm jennifer lee. >> thank you for joining us tonight. by the end of the night, america hopes to have a new president. will it be mr. president for madam president? most florida polls close in just two hours. we will kick it off tonight with our national correspondent mark meredith live at the hilton hotel in will be tonight. we understand trump is still vacillating on whether he will accept the rules.>> reporter: keith, he mentioned during the debate he would keep the country in suspense and the suspense will be happening at the hotel behind me. this is where his victory party is set to get underway within the next two hours or so. tests are already starting to arrive but the big question is we are waiting to find out who

millions of dollars spent, countless campaign rallies, and now today, election day, comes down to the american people. hillary clinton spotted first thing this morning voting in chappaqua, new york joined by husband and top aides. she talked about the journey of the last 17 months. >> so many people are counting on the outcome of this election, what it means for our country. truck by late morning, donald trump ac by reporters from around the world. trump was more reserved than he is on the campaign trail as he officially cast his 2016 ballot. as to what will happen tonight, we asked voters in time square where opinions vary just as much as the city. >> donald trump. >> i'm all hillary. >> reporter: but one thing voters didn't need to make a sign to tell us is no matter

the race to come to an end.>> it has just drawn on and on and on. >> reporter: there are a lot of people that are having the same sentiment that they are ready for the 2016 race to be over. there are still plenty of polling places open across the country. as we have been parking outside the hilton, security is tight. we're seeing protests gather as the sun sets in new york city. still a lot of unanswered questions as we head into tonight. we will be here throughout the night. >> mark meredith outside trump headquarters in new york city. let's ta hillary clinton's headquarters, also in new york city. thousands are expected to await the results of this election night. donald trump meantime, his running mate mike pence, cast his ballot in indianapolis. he told reporters afterwards that it was humbling to vote for himself as vice president. mike pence encouraged anyone who has not yet voted to get to the polls. hillary clinton's running mate voted bright and early in west virginia.

with poll workers. marco rubio is hoping to sail to victory tonight. >> he will be watching the votes coming in close to home. candace mccowan is live where the rubio campaign is hosting their party tonight and he is hoping for an early call this evening. >> reporter: that's right. he is obviously hoping for early call. many people predicting that might be the case because he has led much of the way during campaigning for him, starting with his bid for the candidacy. he has now thrown his hat back in the ring for senate and and did it all with a stop in the rubio office with his hometown crowd and with his wife by his side. 15% of early voters in florida, record numbers across the country. marco rubio tells me this could change elections forever. >> i'm glad they are voting

care about the hispanic community. >> reporter: this election night party does not begin until 6:30 pm. he didn't spend yesterday talking about patrick murphy, also in the race, because murphy has been trailing much of the time. as we are covering murphy, john rodgers is in west palm beach at his party. >> reporter: thanks, candace and good evening. here in palm murphy is hoping to pull off the upset but he has faced a rough uphill battle since marco rubio entered in june. since then, marco rubio has held the lead and the latest quinnipiac poll shows rubio leading 50-33. this is one of a handful of important senate races across the country because after tonight, we will no which party has control of the senate. murphy has been on his own in recent weeks. the campaign committee pulled his ads funding, instead

it to other races but he has gained support from president obama and hillary clinton and looks forward to seeing divisiveness come to an and mac -- come to an end tonight. >> i hope we just unite as a country. this partisanship is holding our country back. >> reporter: patrick murphy and his camp our remaining optimist beach gardens. the doors will open at 6:00. we will be here for the latest all might and we will be sure to bring it to you. >> the democrats need to pick up five senate seats if they want a majority. this one between rubio and murphy is one the entire nation will be watching. thank you john rodgers, live in palm beach gardens. we will check back with you and candace throughout the night. to some breaking news.

died. eagle 8 hd flew over the scene a short time ago. no children were hurt but we are working to gather more information and we will bring it to you as soon as we get it. amid fears that the election could be rigged, voters on high alert -- high alert for anything unusual going on at the polls. >> 8 on your side plays poll watcher for those who fear their ballots won't be counted. this presidential election has stunned experts from the start. how donald trump may defy predictions once if you are forced to stand in line today, at least the weather is nice. we will talk about the weather for the rest of the evening and beyond with a peak at the weekend coming up. we will be on your side in our tampa bay news center all might bringing you the latest election night coverage. you are looking live inside the wfla news center. a lot of activity here. stay with us. decision night in america.

unparalleled coverage of this impressive election. join lester holt, savannah guthrie, and check todd live tonight for decision night in

eagle 8 hd coverage is brought to you by your son test -- suncoast hyundai dealers. across the country, people are gathering to watch the results come in. most polls will close in florida at 7 pm tonight. west florida is on the central time zone so we won't know still a lot going on and our reporter rod carter is at the hillary clinton watch party in tampa tonight. this is a live look as we zoom in on the sign. it is still early on. melanie michael is at the donald trump watch party where the republican party will host a massive event for about 3000 people. congressman buchanan will be there along with other candidates from local races.

location. we will be checking in for live updates on that throughout the night. with technology, you often have glitches. that has been the case had a few polling precincts. 8 on your side check out the precincts where voters complained a machine was down like this one in plant city. within an hour of the machine breaking or malfunctioning, there was a backup machine or a different machine was delivered. if you have a problem at the polls, we want to hear from you. important to trump and clinton is polk county right in the heart of the i-4 corrider were both candidates campaigned heavily toward the end. melissa marino continues our coverage live from lakeland. we both live in polk county. it's important to both camps for a variety of reasons. >> reporter: political analysts tell me the way polk county votes will likely be the way the i-4 corrider goes and away florida goes. polk county is virtually split

democrats, republicans, and independence. historically, polk county has favored the republican candidate. in recent years, candidates one by a on average of 5% here but it will all come down to turnout. we spoke with one voter who decided to cross party lines. >> i just kind of went on, do i want business as normal or do i want to shake it up and i actually for the first time broke from party lines everywheus >> reporter: more than 170,000 people voted early or by mail in polk county and those voters, virtually split 50-50 between republicans and democrats. a must watch here in polk county. >> looking forward to it. melissa marino for us. >> while most of the attention will go to the top of the ticket, there are several local

>> reporter: we are talking about the big matchups and one will be district 13, charlie crist versus david jolly. charlie crist has been an independent republican -- and a republican but now he is a democrat trying to overtake the incumbent. he wants to ban assault rifles and improve obamacare. let's go over to district 12. we have robert tager and bill arrest us, the battle of two attorneys. tar health care and an increase in the minimum wage. bilirakis has been a representative since 2007, opposes illegal immigration and wants to reform the tax code. we have a big race at district 14. kathy castor is the incumbent by kristy quinn is a newcomer to political office. she has never held elected office before so she is hoping

quinn wants to end common core and restructure obamacare. for another race where we have three in the fight is bob beeson, an attorney going up against dana young, also an attorney and the incumbent. we have a third independent, joe redner, a local businessman. he owns the venus entertainment club. he opposes special interest money so he wants to put a dent in the campaigns of piecing and young -- dave young has been criticized for her environmental record. we will be sure to watch the close race tonight and one more, district 19 for senate. this is interesting because your incumbent is an attorney, activist, state representative and former president of st.

he calls himself mr. manners and he's an older republican. this is his philosophy. free soil, free labor, free speech, free men. i haven't seen yet in any campaign in this election, someone with a mascot but he has one. we are going to send it back to you.>> thank you, josh. tonight, we are joined by brenda mclaughlin. >> he is here to give us perspective on the race. us tonight. we talk a lot about donald trump and all the political pendants. they say clinton has the off in her favor but trump has been defying odds all along. he had only a 3% chance to win the nomination and yet here he is.>> a lot of pollsters are still scratching their head as to where those trump voters are hiding. the very respected pollster, his 365, he got 50 out of 50

that. then donald trump was his record. he has come out with an aggregate poll prediction that says hillary clinton has a 65% chance of winning. that is actually conservative compared to the new york times, which says 85%. again, they are being very cautious because like the brexit in england, it was totally unexct pollsters failed to detect. >> they talk so much about voter turnout. in 2008, president obama's first year elected, there was record voter turnout. we have another historic race where either there will be a political outsider, an outsider with no political office before, or a first woman president. either way, historic. do you think that will affect turnout and we will have record- breaking turnout?

organization looking at real- time results of democrats and republicans voting. they say the florida turnout with two hours left has already passed -- surpassed 2012 so we will have a record in 2012. the rest of the nation is too soon to tell but my feeling is that barack obama was not only the first african-american nominee, but he sort of came out of nowhere. he was not well known in the political scene but hillary consciousness for three decades. despite the historic nature, i think that dampens the novelty a little bit. i think we have to wait and see in terms of the numbers but if hillary clinton should win, i think there should be an outpouring of recognition that this is indeed after 43 dudes, we have a female president.>>

people in the state and we had 6.5 million people early voting. we have people rushing to the polls. it's going to be excited. thank you for being here. >> thank you so much. the days are getting shorter. the sunset now around 5:41 pm. beautiful 77 degrees around the lake club. 40% relative humidity at this location. just waiting for the sunset into the gulf good views here. 81 degrees at the beach. 78 degrees at hula beach, east winds at 3 miles per hour. maybe want to go out to a restaurant and have a cocktail and reflect on the election season. the last chance to vote, just a short time. 73 degrees. our temperature until 7 pm, just gorgeous.

vote. 14 days above average temperatures. 24 days in a row now without rain so if you are thinking some of your plants, your grass is looking peaky, that's why. we have not seen much reciprocation. lauren clark got a beautiful sunrise. sunrises and sunsets have been fantastic. temperatures will stay close to average, a little above or a little below. dropping now to 79 degrees. we've got a cold front coming through. not a huge im 79 degrees at 4 pm. similar day in the fourth -- in the forecast but notice clouds in the area as a cold front moves through the area. 74 degrees in seminal, same in dade city. arcadia 79 degrees, 82 degrees in sarasota and 82 degrees in wiki watch you. clouds from the west, an indication that a front is coming. he will notice hello, wispy

atmosphere is changing. mostly clear skies around the area. a few sprinkles have been rolling in along the easterly flow but not very significant. a relatively dry atmosphere. the model keeps the easterly flow in place. most of the clouds two n. as we head through the day. and then the forecast is going to jump back. you see the clouds move across e mild temps but here is the front settling in with a slight chance of developing. not lot -- not a lot of moisture ahead of it. a lot of clouds tomorrow compared to today. 79 degrees for wednesday, 81 degrees for a high on thursday. again for friday, you can see veterans day. i will be out at florida national cemetery for that service. fantastic. you could also see in the next week, temperatures remain in the upper 70s.

high alert for any sort of interference from foreign hackers. >> 8 on your side digs into whether american polling

he used to even take me on house calls. both my parents taught me to help others. that's why i believe in public service. as your governor we got things done, and if you send me to congress we can do it again. i'll protect social security and medicare. defend planned parenthood and women's health care. and i'll take care of our veterans. i'm charlie crist and i approve this message because i'll put you, the people first.

g from fobo? fobo. fobo... fear of better options. cure fobo with black friday savings now. up to 40% off, 24-months special financing, and free delivery. at hhgregg. welcome back to our your vote counts 2016 election night coverage. there have been so many first's leading up to this election night. >> the level of security and it preventing a cyber attack affecting the outcome of the races among them. stacie schaible joins us to explain.>> reporter: the federal government geared up

entirely new way including six national cyber centers and emergency operations centers. this is video of the national cyber security and communications integration center in washington dc. it's part of the department of homeland cybersecurity and it is working with states today to ensure the security of voting and election systems. homeland security is actively monitoring incoming intelligence to react to any threat to the federal command systems. they are actively monitoring their networks for any network intrusions or virus infections. i spoke to the head of cybersecurity at usf today. he pointed out that our voting systems in the u.s. are not connected to the internet. they are decentralized on purpose so the chances of a widespread attack are highly unlikely. i will be keeping tabs on election security throughout the evening.

>> we will bring you complete coverage of your vote counts 2016 here on news channel 8 as the results come in. >> and we will have election results on the bottom of your screen throughout the night. you can also get results on our website www.wfla.com. it has already started out exciting. >> a historic night either way. >> we've got to talk about amendments coming up at 5:30 pm. the fight has pitted consumers against power companies. what will a yes will voters in florida legalize marijuana? we will tell you how supporters feel about their chances coming

okay, you know i was your governor. i played quarterback. my dad was a doctor here for 55 years. i swim every morning. and yes, i'm a fan of fans! and in congress i'll get things done for pinellas county. i'll protect social security and medicare, defend women's healthcare and planned parenthood, and take care of our veterans. i'm charlie crist and i approve this message. because i'll put the people first.

right now on news channel 8 at 5:30 pm: >> decision day is here and florida is once again a battleground state. floridians cast their ballots not only for president but senators, representatives, local officials and controversial amendments. we have team coverage on this election night. >> thanks for being with us tonight. backers of amendment 2 are gathering in the group has been pushing for the use of medical marijuana in the state of florida. jeff patterson joins us from orlando where they seem pretty confident that this amendment will pass. they need 60%, is that right? >> reporter: good evening. they will need 60% of the vote for amendment 2 to pass. an amendment has failed in the state of florida for medical marijuana but the group united for care believes this is there time. backers complain -- claim