LEON COUNTY, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - The lawsuits are piling up and the finger-pointing is escalating as Republican Governor Rick Scott's slim lead over U.S. Senator Bill Nelson continued to shrink on Friday.
As elections supervisors continue to tally votes, a recount appears almost certain in the senatorial race, which Scott led by 56,000 votes on election night.
Elections experts said the process is working exactly how it is supposed to under a state law that gives county supervisors until noon Saturday to submit their preliminary unofficial results.
"Our first unofficial results due to the state are Saturday at noon. We have time built in between Election Day and that first set of unofficial to make sure everything gets counted. I think that's what various counties are doing," said Mark Earley, Leon County Supervisor of Elections.
Ion Sancho, who retired as Leon County's Supervisor in 2016 said election night numbers are never final.
He feels election supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties could have been more organized, but said there has not been voter fraud.
"These are not votes created out of nothing. This is the regular processing of damaged ballots, unscanned ballots, and provision ballots that the Florida law not only identifies, but requires to be done in this manner," said Sancho.
With the noon Saturday reporting deadline looming for counties to report unofficial election results to the state, it appears the statewide races for U.S. Senator, governor, and agriculture commissioner are all headed toward recounts.
