In Florida, African-American voter turnout is lower than Clinton had hoped

Hillary Clinton's campaign has run into trouble in the tight battleground state of Florida, where essential African-American voters are not turning out for early voting in the kinds of numbers that would meet expectations. "[The Clinton campaign is] not doing enough in the black community. I have been screaming for months about this and nothing changed and now look what's happening," Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), who "represents one of South Florida’s largest African-American communities," told Politico.

Normally African-Americans lead in-person voting, but as of Sunday black voters make up just 16 percent of those ballots, as opposed to 25 percent in the first two days of in-person early voting in 2012. "My reaction is pretty clear: I. Told. You. So," South Florida African-American activist Leslie Wimes said. "All their talk about enthusiasm in the black community was bulls---. Bulls---. In September, I said they had time to fix the problem. Now we're a week away from the election and they can't fix it. Let's hope the Hispanic vote bails her out."

As of Monday, Republican voters had cast 40.5 percent of the absentee or in-person early ballots, and Democrats 40.2 percent:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A Clinton win in Florida would crush Donald Trump's White House chances; if he carries the state, he keeps open his path to the White House.