On Tuesday night preliminary results of the midterm elections in Florida left Democrats with the blues. The expected ”Blue Wave” of Democratic victories failed. But unknown to most voters were that thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots were still being be counted. On Wednesday as these votes were counted, it became evident that the results of key races for US Senator, governor and commissioner of agriculture will have to be recounted. This outcome has given hope that one or more of these results could be overturned.
DeSantis’s lead shrinks from 0.68 to 0.44%
Tuesday night preliminary results had Andrew Gillum, Democratic candidate for governor narrowly losing his bid to be Florida’s first black governor by 0.68 percent, approximately 65,537 votes, to Republican Ron DeSantis. However, by Thursday morning DeSantis’ lead shrunk to 0.44 percent or 36,223 votes
According to Florida’s electoral law a recount can be requested by the losing candidate if that candidate loses by less than 0.50 percent of the votes. With thousands of votes still to counted in Broward and other counties up to Thursday morning, it became apparent that a recount would be requested by Gillum’s campaign although he had conceded defeat to DeSantis on Tuesday night.
Rick Scott’s lead shrinks from 0.37 to 0.18 percent
In the US Senate race between incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and Florida incumbent governor Rick Scott, Tuesday’s result had Scott winning 0.37 percent of the votes counted. However, although Scott declared his victory, Nelson refused to concede and indicated on Wednesday he would be seeking a recount. By Thursday Scott’s lead dropped to 0.18 percent or 15,085 votes.
Nikki Fried now leads in votes cast
In the race for Commissioner of Agriculture, the results on Tuesday saw Democrat Nikki Fried losing to Republican Matt Caldwell by less than 0.50 percent. As votes continued to be counted by Thursday Fried took over the lead by a narrow 0.9 percent.
Florida counties have until noon on Saturday November 10 to submit their final tally of votes. If the final tally for any race fall below 0.50 it’s pretty certain the losing candidate will seek a recount. The first recount would be conducted by refeeding the paper ballots into voting machines to be re-tabulated. If after this procedure the winning candidate margin is less than 0.25 percent another recount will be conducted by hand count.
The delay in counting mail-in and provisional ballots has incensed the opposing campaigns. A campaign spokesman for Scott insisted Scott won fairly, and criticized Nelson for insisting on a recount saying, “It’s a sad way for Nelson to go out.” But Nelson remains unfazed.
Scott reacts with anger
The delay in the counting votes in Palm Beach and Broward counties has drawn criticism from Scott and Republican US Senator Marco Rubio. Scott threated to sue Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes and Palm Beach Supervisor Susan Bucher for allegedly refusing to release details on voting tabulations and hindering the processing of absentee ballots respectively.
In a tweet Rubio asked why “Broward County elections can’t do what 65 of 67 counties did, count all votes in a timely way and in compliance with Florida law?”
If the votes are to be recounted in any or all the three races this would likely be done next week.
