Latest Presidential Results in Florida - Election 2012: Ballots Still Being Counted; Officials Expect Results By Friday Afternoon

While the presidential election was decided a little after 11pm on Tuesday night, Florida continues to struggle to count all its ballots.

As in 2000, it is the last state left to report its election results, but this year, it doesn't matter.

Even if Mitt Romney were to win Florida's 29 electoral votes, he can't overtake President Obama's lead.

Obama currently has 303 electoral votes, while Romney has 206.

At the moment, Florida election officials have counted over 8 million votes and Obama leads by just under 50,000 votes, with 97 percent of the vote counted. In 2008, Obama beat John McCain in Florida by over 2 million votes, a margin he is far short of this year.

With a race this close, Florida must count all of its provisional and absentee ballots before being able to determine which candidate won the state.

And no official wants to repeat the humiliation of 2000, when they called the election too early, then rescinded their announcement, then changed their minds.

Florida is notorious for election difficulties. Republican Governor Rick Scott fought a court battle to reduce the number of early voting days from 13 to 8, causing very long lines in many Florida cities.

Some voters waited in line most of the day, and lines continued past midnight on Election Day.

The Florida ballot was also extremely long, weighed down with a dozen pages of ballot questions that baffled many voters. Even voters familiar with the ballot questions took two to three times longer to vote than usual.

And when a computer can't read a particular ballot, they take longer to count by hand.

"This is simply a matter of sheer volume," said Penelope Townsley, supervisor of election for Miami-Dade County, speaking to CNN.

"We're dealing with a tremendous amount of paper. We will continue this process, it will be completed, but it will be done so with integrity and accuracy. And every vote will be counted."

Provisional ballots must still be counted, and officials expect to have the entire process completed by Friday afternoon.