Tampa area voting remains light in Florida GOP primary

Florida's Republican voters went to the polls today, with Mitt Romney the heavy favorite to beat Newt Gingrich in a winner-take-all presidential preference primary.

GOP officials were anticipating a large turnout, but numbers at many precincts in the Tampa Bay area were lower than expected by mid-afternoon, likely due to a heavy push in early voting.

As of 4:30 p.m., the Hillsborough County elections office estimated that just more than 22 percent of registered Republicans had voted based on the activity at 10 sample precincts.

More than 605,000 Floridians, including 22,579 in Hillsborough, had already voted as of Monday. GOP officials in Florida were anticipating a turnout of more than 2 million voters, up from a record 1.9 million in the Republican primary in 2008.

Jeanne Glogowski of Lithia was one of the early voters. The 51-year-old library volunteer strongly identifies with Rick Santorum's pro-life and immigration stances, but voted for Gingrich on Friday.

"I felt I had to put my vote where it would have the most power, and pray that Rick (Santorum) would get the vice presidential nod," the retired military civil servant said.

The trickle of in-person votes today will be buoyed by a high number of early and absentee votes collected over the last two weeks. Hillsborough had the second-highest number of early voters in the state, behind Miami-Dade County.

The Bloomingdale Library has been one of the busier early voting sites in Hillsborough. Today, voter turnout there was steady, but lighter than the stream of library visitors. Longtime Republican Solomon Sharif of Valrico said he voted for Romney today, despite choosing Obama in the 2008 general election.

"He is somebody different, outside the box of the Republican tradition," said Sharif, who is black. He thinks Gingrich is saddled with his spate of ethics problems when he was Speaker of the House in the 1990s.

"I think Gingrich is dishonest, an opportunist. He goes along with whatever he thinks will get him elected," said Sharif, 58. "I feel Romney is a nonconformist when issues come up. I think Romney will do what he thinks is best for the country and not just the Republican party as far as jobs, the economy and foreign policy."

Valrico resident Donna Smith stopped by the library precinct about 3 p.m. today. Romney has been her choice since soon after he announced a presidential run, and the onslaught of negative ads didn't change her mind, she said.

"I really do think his truthfulness, his honesty, his work ethic and business background will help him to run our nation," said Smith, 68.

She said the nearly 20 Republican candidate debates weren't redundant. They validated why the former Massachusetts governor was her favorite to face off against President Barack Obama in November.

"We need to hear candidates and where each of them stand," she said.

Turnout at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in New Tampa, which houses precincts 359 and 365, was steady but light, a poll worker said this morning. Among those casting ballots was Pete Hernandez, who voted for Romney. It was a clear choice, the 40-year-old Tampa Palms businessman said.

"The biggest issue is the economy, so who better than someone who has that background," he said.

Workers at South Tampa's precinct 119 said the usually busy location was "slow but steady." About 270 of the approximately 900 registered Republicans came today to the precinct, at Palma Ceia United Methodist Church.

Romney also had a lot of support at Precinct 245, at Tampa's Forest Hills Presbyterian Church. Turnout started slow, with only 25 of 400 Republicans casting their votes by 8:30 a.m., poll workers said.

"I already had my mind made up from the beginning," said Philip Genco, of Tampa. "I didn't watch the debates."

He said he is very discriminating about who gets his vote.

"I would not vote at all," he said, "if I did not like any of the candidates."

This primary is key to getting the nomination, said the 56-year-old who works with computers.

"Florida, because of the different kinds of people here from different places, is setting the stage for what's going to happen," he said.

Less than an hour after the polls opened, election workers in East Tampa had it pretty easy.

"We just had one (voter) so far this morning," said a volunteer outside Precinct 331 at the Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center just before 8 a.m.

The precinct in Republican sparse East Tampa has only 98 Republicans.

Gingrich's baggage swayed retiree Curtis Dempsey against Gingrich. Dempsey, voting at a Pinellas Park retirement community, said he would sit out the general election if Gingrich wins the Republican nomination.

Gingrich resigned after a spate of ethics problems and a poor showing for House Republicans in the 1998 elections.

"Well, the only thing Newt Gingrich has to offer is a big mouth and he's been showing that for some time," Dempsey said. "Plus he got kicked out of the Congress. He was the lead man there for a while. How do you get kicked out of the Congress and then run for president of the United States?"

The other two GOP candidates, Santorum and Ron Paul, shrugged off expected losses in Florida. Neither did much campaigning in the state.

In Tallahassee, Gov. Rick Scott voted at his local voting precinct near the Governor's Mansion. He would not say who got in vote in the primary but teased that the candidate has "less than 10 letters in the last name."

In Temple Terrace, all voters – not just Republicans – can vote in the city's economic referendum. If approved, it would give city leaders the power to grant property tax breaks as a way to lure employers.

Polling places close at 7 p.m. local time across the state.

Here are the rules for today's voting:

• You must vote at your precinct. Otherwise, you'll have to cast a provisional ballot.

• You must bring identification with your picture and signature. A driver's license will do, so will a military ID.