Volunteer observers view the process as election workers at tables examine ballots during a hand recount of votes cast in the US Senate race in Palm Beach County on Friday.
MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images
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MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images
Volunteer observers view the process as election workers at tables examine ballots during a hand recount of votes cast in the US Senate race in Palm Beach County on Friday.
MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images
After two recounts, and a deluge of lawsuits and loaded political rhetoric, the 12 day election marathon in Florida seems to be nearing its close.
Official results are due to Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s office from all of Florida’s 67 counties no later than noon Sunday. About an hour before that deadline, Broward County, which has been one of two counties at the epicenter of the state’s recount drama, announced it had completed its recount and submitted the results.
Democratic nominee for governor Andrew Gillum conceded Saturday night, and all eyes are now on Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. He trails the Republican nominee, current governor Rick Scott, by more than 12,000 votes and the results of last week’s machine recount actually slightly widened the margin in that race.
Because the margin between Nelson and Scott was less than a quarter of a percentage point after that first recount, state law mandated a hand count of ballots that a machine could not clearly make a reading on, either because the race was left blank or because there were other markings that made the ballot unclear.
When county election officials turn in results today, they will reflect those recounted totals, as well as ballots received by military and overseas voters. As long as ballots from abroad were postmarked before Nov. 6, they will be counted if they were received by county officials by Friday.
A federal judge has denied a number of lawsuits filed by Nelson in an effort to put a dent in the deficit. They included a request to count vote-by-mail domestic ballots that were received after Election Day, and a request to nullify a state law that requires voters to use the same marking method for different races across their ballots.
The Scott campaign has been calling daily on Nelson to concede. In a show of confidence, Scott attended an orientation in Washington last week for incoming senators.
In a statement issued Sunday, the Scott campaign said Nelson has a choice: “Be remembered as the statesman who graciously conceded after 42-years of public service…or be remembered as the sore loser who refused to face the people he served.”
In his concession on Saturday, Gillum referenced the tangle of election administration issues that these midterms uncovered, 18 years after the state first came under harsh scrutiny for the 2000 presidential election, in his own concession Saturday.
“We’re going to everything that we can to make sure that over the coming weeks and over the coming months that we do what we can to perfect our electoral system,” Gillum said. “We need to update Florida’s elections system and bring it into the 21st century.”
NPR National Political Correspondent Don Gonyea contributed reporting.
Article source: https://www.npr.org/2018/11/18/669023691/florida-recount-deadline-approaches-scott-calls-on-nelson-to-concede?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news