TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Voters turned out in droves in Tampa Bay and across the state, while Florida officials kept a watchful eye on polling sites on Election Day, to preserve the integrity of the 2024 general election.

Secretary of State, Cord Byrd, shared that Florida is trying to stay ahead of the curve instead of reacting to potential problems, adding that people should be looking to the state as an example of how to properly conduct a safe and secure election.

“We never rest on our laurels. We’re always looking whether we have a problem or not,” said Byrd. “We’re always looking around the country to see how we can improve our election.”

Byrd added that after the 2020 election, the state enacted the most significant election integrity reforms over the next three legislative sessions than any other state in the country.

The Office of Election Crimes and Security was implemented after the 2020 election and was an initiative of Gov. Ron DeSantis to ensure election integrity, according to Secretary Byrd.

Byrd highlighted that as the third largest state in the U.S., folks are going to know before going to bed, the election results in Florida.

“That’s a testament to the laws that we passed over the last 24 years since 2000, to put in place an election code that makes it very easy to vote but difficult to cheat,” said Secretary Byrd.

In a one-on-one interview with WFLA, we asked Secretary Byrd how the state assures voters who may fear the security of their vote in this election.

“When I talk to voters, I tell them this, there’s no such thing as a perfect election,” he said. “When you have over 11,000,000 voters go to the polls there’s going to be issues that arise. We deal with those very aggressively on election day. We have war room setups, we’re monitoring all of these things around the state, but at the end of the day, what matters, are the results.”

Not only are state officials confident in voter security statewide, but Florida voters are also echoing the same message.

“I am 100% confident. I don’t have any doubt in the world that this will be a fair free election. We’ll just see what happens,” voter Todd Studley said.

With a cyber security team in place, the Secretary of State shares they are prepared for any type of election interference.