LIVE BLOG: Projected winners announced for Leon County Commission and Superintendent of Schools

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Polls just closed on one of the biggest Election Days in American history.

Both presidential nominees would bring firsts to the role.

Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris would be the first woman elected U.S. president and only the second Black person to lead the nation.

And if GOP nominee Donald Trump makes a comeback, he would be the first convicted felon to win the highest elected seat in the country.

Many voters may have a long night — or even couple of days — ahead of them as they wait for results. It's unlikely that Americans will know the outcome of this year's presidential race on November 5, Election Day.

Regardless of the timeline, WCTV will be with you every step of the way. Our team will be covering races from the local level up to the U.S. presidential race.

Cody Butler will be following the outcomes of Florida Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 .

Brianna Shaw will be monitoring the race for Leon County Schools Superintendent. Incumbent Rocky Hanna (D) is facing challenger Joe Burgess (NPA), the principal at Chiles High School.

Savannah Kelley is reporting on one of the most contested and highly advertised races: the run for Florida Senate District 3 between incumbent Republican Corey Simon and Democratic challenger Daryl Parks .

Zak Dahlheimer will be providing non-stop coverage of voter turnout and election results across the nation. He'll also speak with WCTV political analyst Dr. Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at Florida State University.

Matthew Hoffmann is reporting on the race between Tallahassee's Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Richardson and former Mayor Dot Inman-Johnson for the City Commission, Seat 2.

Staci Inez is reporting on the race for the Leon County Board of County Commissioners, District 4 Seat between incumbent Brian Welch and Isaac Montilla .

This live blog will be updated constantly throughout the evening with reports on local and national elections.

Why the wait? Elections in the U.S. are highly complex. While uncontested or landslide races may be called right after polls close, competitive races may take days, or even weeks to call.

The reasons are mostly procedural. Accurate vote counting takes time. Legal challenges, audits and recounts can also extend the period needed to determine the outcome.

Election officials caution Americans to be patient. What might look like delays are part of the normal process and not a sign of something nefarious. They warn that simply because a candidate declares victory does not make it true.

In fact, the United States doesn't have a nationwide body that collects and releases election results. Instead, journalists gather data from local and state agencies that report election results publicly. Learn more about that process here

Live updates: WCTV is calling the race for Gadsden County Sheriff for incumbent Morris Young.

WCTV is calling the race for Leon County Commission At Large, Group 1 for Carolyn Cummings.

WCTV is declaring Rocky Hanna the projected winner of the Leon County Schools Superintendent race.

Based on the number of ballots remaining, opponent Joe Burgess cannot make up enough ground to nab the race.

As 7 p.m. comes and goes, everything remains calm at the Leon County Supervisor of Elections headquarters.

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley says all mail and early votes have been counted and will be available for upload in the next six minutes. About 70 to 80% of the vote is expected to be uploaded by 7:15 p.m.

Earley also said there are Postal Service employees driving two ballots all that way from South Carolina.

He says they have a police escort to try to make the 7 p.m. deadline.

Also, the canvassing board is now in session. For this batch of ballots, two ballots had "overvotes" meaning more than one candidate voted for per race.

The board is also deciphering what some voters meant on some ballots when it wasn't filled out properly.

Brianna Shaw will be monitoring the race for Leon County Schools Superintendent. Incumbent Rocky Hanna (D) is facing challenger Joe Burgess (NPA).

Both candidates have focused on school safety, teacher retention and recruitment and student success during their campaigns.

And both bring decades of experience in the public school system to the table. Hanna is running for his third term as superintendent, and Burgess is the principal at Chiles High School.

Hannah says if re-elected, he'll use his final four years to strategize on moving the needle on teacher pay to keep teachers in the district and bring more in. He also aims to continue the Capital Projects, which aim to improve Title One schools.

On the other side of the ticket, Burgess says if elected, he would advocate for higher teacher pay and overall pay for support staff.

Staci Inez is reporting on the race for the Leon County Board of County Commissioners, District 4 seat between Brian Welch and Isaac Montilla.

Montilla is running against Welch for his position while Welch currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of County Commissioners for 2023-2024. Welch was elected to the board in 2020.

Savannah Kelley is reporting on one of the most contested and highly advertised races between incumbent Republican Corey Simon and Democratic challenger Daryl Parks for Florida Senate District 3.

Simon is running for re-election after serving two years in office. Parks is a civil rights attorney based out of Tallahassee.

Republicans have a supermajority in the Florida Senate, which means at least two-thirds of senators are Republicans. If Parks wins this seat, it could pave the way for Democrats to shift that supermajority . They need to win at least two Senate seats to break that supermajority.

Matthew Hoffmann is reporting on the race between Tallahassee's Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Richardson and former Mayor Dot Inman-Johnson for the City Commission, seat 2.

For a local election, a vast amount of money has gone into this race as the more progressive Inman-Johnson is attempting to unseat the long-elected Curtis Richardson.

"It's about the people of Tallahassee," Inman-Johnson said. "It's about refocusing what the city is doing so that they are really dealing with the issues of the people of Tallahassee."

Currently, Richardson serves as the deputy behind Mayor John Dailey but if Inman-Johnson wins more votes by the end of Tuesday night, the faction led by Commissioner Jeremy Matlow will be in charge.