MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. -- After a two-week delay caused by Hurricane Wilma, voters in Miami, Hialeah, Miami Beach and Coconut Grove went to the polls Tuesday.

With crime down and buildings going up, Miami voters re-elected popular incumbent Mayor Manny Diaz to a second term.

It was apparent early on that Diaz was likely to runaway with the election. Absentee ballots were overwhelmingly for the incumbent. More than 44,000 absentee ballots were cast for Diaz, compared with 933 for Enrique Santos, the challenger with the second-largest number of absentee votes.

In the end, Diaz won easily with more than 65 percent of the vote.

"I am extremely gratified," Diaz said as he celebrated his victory. "I am very happy."

In Miami District 3, voters chose Joe Sanchez as commissioner. In District 5, Michelle Spence-Jones will square off against Richard Dunn in a runoff scheduled for Nov. 29.

For the first time in 24 years, Hialeah has a new mayor. Voters there elected Julio Robaina from a field of six candidates as Mayor Raul Martinez stepped down. Martinez was elected in 1981 and was re-elected eight times since. Robaina won with nearly 60 percent of the vote.

Hialeah voters also chose three council members. In Group V, voters elected Luis Gonzalez. In Group VI, Carlos Hernandez was elected council member, and in Group VII, Esteban Bovo was chosen as council member.

In Miami Beach, Jerry Libbin and Alex Annunziato are still vying for a commissioner seat in Group 1 in a runoff election.

Turnout was light; about 18 percent of eligible voters went to the polls, officials said.

Wilma Postpones, But Doesn't Damage Election Process

When Wilma hit South Florida on Oct. 24, it knocked out power to many polling places and scattered poll workers. Gov. Jeb Bush ordered municipal elections throughout South Florida postponed. The two-week election delay provided time to get power restored to all polling places and workers available to man them, he said.

Five polling places had to be moved to new locations, Miami-Dade County elections spokesman Seth Kaplan said. But all of them were near the original sites and affected voters were notified of the change through cards sent in the mail.

"We've gotten a lot of cooperation from anyone who is able to help," Kaplan said.

Kaplan said that the voting process on Tuesday went smoothly. But some voters said Wilma made it hard for them to decide who to choose.

"I normally am very active in political elections, but I was 12 days without electricity because of Hurricane Wilma and still without Internet access, so it was very hard for me to do my research on each candidate," said Mona Harris, a 33-year-old fashion designer who voted for Diaz's opponent Charles Cutler.