TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Few changes to initial vote totals are being found as the first recount numbers are being completed by county elections offices for three key statewide races.
The machine recounts continued taking place across Florida Tuesday in races for US Senate, governor, commissioner of agriculture and several legislative and local government seats.
The recounts, which were ordered Saturday, are required when the margins between candidates are 0.5 percent or less. The machine recounts will play out over five days, with county canvassing boards required to report results by 3:00 p.m. Thursday.
At that point, races with margins of .25 percent or less will go to manual, or “hand,” recounts. Leon County finished their machine recount Tuesday, with little change made in the overall numbers.
Most candidates lost a few votes in the recount, but nothing that would sway an election. Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Early said the results from the recount are basically what he expected.
“That says a lot for how we did the process, and I expect similar results across the state. When we do recounts, you don’t see dramatic changes," said Earley. "That’s what’s borne out here, and that’s what I have seen borne out in most other recounts that I’ve been involved with.”
In races that go to manual recounts after the Thursday deadline, county canvassing boards will examine the “outstacked” ballots, which include those with overvotes or undervotes in a given race, as well as ballots with the write-in option filled in.
The results from the manual recounts must be provided to the state no later than 12:00 p.m. on November 18. Two days later, the state Elections Canvassing Commission, comprised of Scott and two members of the Florida Cabinet, will meet in Tallahassee to certify the official election results.
