A small number of votes currently separate Haitian-American Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Jamaican-American Dale Holness in the tight Democratic primary race for the South Florida U.S. House seat of the late Alcee Hastings.
Election officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties were required by law to conduct a recount after unofficial results from last week’s election showed just a handful of votes separating the two leading candidates.
Holness, a Broward County commissioner, and Cherfilus-McCormick, a health care company CEO, had beat out nine other Democrats in the race.
Businessman Jason Mariner won the Republican primary, but political experts say that they expect the Congressional seat to go to the Democratic candidate, given that the 20th district, which covers sections of Broward and Palm Beach counties, is made up of a large majority of Democratic immigrants.
Some 49,000 votes were cast in last Tuesday’s primaries- representing 16 percent. According to the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office, Holness had 11,657 votes to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 11,662 when the machine and manual recounts were completed last Friday.
Scores of ballots were rejected during the recount, leading Holness to raise questions.
“Lawyers are there to advise and guide you. But the case is yours,” said Holness, about his role in questioning rejected ballots.
“The case is mine on behalf of the people that have cast their ballots. And in Broward County, you saw the large difference in the votes that I got compared to anyone else. So part of what I have to do is protect their voice.”
The office is now awaiting outstanding overseas and military ballots. Those ballots that are postmarked by Election Day will be accepted if they arrive by Friday, November 12.
A total of 553 overseas votes were mailed out for the Democratic primary election, said Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott. Of those, only 32 were returned by Election Day. Scott said he is not expecting over 100 overseas ballots to arrive this week.
Whoever wins the primaries will go up against Mariner in the general election on January 11. And if there is a tie? Under Florida law, candidates would have to “draw lots to determine who shall be elected to the office.”
