Politics

In Florida, Supreme Court justices are nominated by a commission and appointed by the governor. Every six years, they're up for retention. Voters decide whether to keep them on the bench or let them go.

Since the system was put in place in the 1970s, retention votes have been pro forma affairs, with justices doing little fundraising or campaigning.

But this year is different.

Everybody tries to predict who will win.

What we wonder, though, is when will we know whether it will be President Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney taking the oath of office next January?

For thousands of voters in Ohio, Election Day is going to be a day of rest — because they worked hard to vote on Sunday.

Thousands stood in long lines at voting sites in northeast Ohio, in southwest Ohio and in central Ohio. But the Franklin County Early Voting Center may have had the most carnival-like atmosphere.

With all the really big numbers flying around this campaign season, here's one more: $165,062,250.

That's how much Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS has spent attacking Democrats and helping Republicans this election. Perhaps this number doesn't seem so special, compared with the $1 billion spent by President Obama's campaign and at least $900 million by Gov. Romney's team.

There is one critical difference, though.

Early voting ended in Florida on Saturday. But on Sunday, some county elections officials opened their offices to allow people to vote using absentee ballots.

In Miami-Dade County, elections officials opened the office for over-the-counter absentee voting, but then inexplicably shut down. A couple of hundred waiting voters began chanting and pounding on the doors. An hour later, the office reopened.

Melissa Block talks with senior Washington editor Ron Elving about the Senate races to watch on Tuesday.

The two presidential candidates made their final campaign stops ahead of Tuesday's election. Melissa Block talks with Ari Shapiro, who traveled with Mitt Romney, and Scott Horsley, who traveled with President Obama, about their final pitch to voters.

Over the past few weeks, we've been checking in regularly with pollster Andrew Kohut, president of Pew Research Center. On the eve of Election Day, he talks to Robert Siegel about the difficulties of polling during this campaign and the center's final poll, in which President Obama regained the lead.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

I'm Melissa Block. And it's time for All Tech Considered.

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The battle for control of the U.S. Senate has been expensive; no place more so than Ohio. Outside groups have spent more tens of millions dollars on the seat.