Writing as someone who has vicariously experienced this (political stats junkie, used to live near the Florida-Alabama state line, familiar with political-demographic differences in the panhandle versus the peninsula), I raise my admittedly minor voice and plead:
Mainstream Media Pundits: Part of Florida is in Central Time. Could we please, please, please do panhandle voters the courtesy of embargoing vote tallies until after polls close in the entire state?
At least the networks are doing better this year than they have in the past in acknowledging that polls are still open in places like Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, and Panama City…and at least the GOP contest is going to be too close to call for a while.
However, in past history, when winners were declared before the polls closed in Pensacola…that is just so disrespectful to those voters.
Maybe there is something to be said for the practice in a few countries where reporting on polls or actual results is embargoed from a few days before the election until all polls have officially closed.