The Florida Senate Race between Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R) is Heading to a Hand Recount after the latest round of Machine Tallies showed the Two Candidates still neck and neck. Nelson and Scott were separated by a Margin of about 0.15 Percentage Points, according to Results released Thursday, a narrow enough margin to Trigger a Hand Recount under State Law. In the recount totals, Gov. Rick Scott leads Incumbent Nelson by 12,603 Votes.
The Hand Recount must be Completed by Sunday, in time for a Nov. 20th Deadline for State Officials to Certify the Final Election Results.
A Manual Recount does not mean that Every Ballot is Counted by Hand. Instead, Local Election Officials will Sort through so-called Overvotes and Undervotes Ballots on which Voters Marked either More or Fewer than the Maximum Number of Selections Allowed.
The Race for Agriculture Commissioner is also Heading for a Hand Recount after Results on Thursday showed both Candidates separated by just 0.06 Points.
But the Recount in Florida Gubernatorial Race showed Republican Ron DeSantis maintaining a Lead over Democrat Andrew Gillum of about 0.41 Points, over the Threshold required for a Hand Recount.
Gillum isn't Conceding yet. The Tallahassee Mayor said on Thursday that Tens of Thousands of Votes were Not Tallied in the Recount, leaving the Race up in the air. "As today’s unofficial reports and recent court proceedings make clear, there are tens of thousands of votes that have yet to be counted," Gillum said in a Statement. "We plan to do all we can to ensure that every voice is heard in this process."
Some Counties Failed to Meet the 3pm Thursday Deadline for Submitting Unofficial Machine Count Results.
In Palm Beach County, Ballot-Counting Machine Malfunctions this week forced Officials to Recount roughly 175,000 Votes. Hillsborough County also Missed the Deadline after the Recount turned up 846 Fewer Votes than the Initial Count last week.
Broward County is likely to remain as the Epicenter of the Hand Recount efforts after intense Republican Criticism of their Vote Counting Efforts. The County also has an Outsize Number of Undervotes, about 25,000. A Hand Recount is likely to sort out whether those Undervotes were Due to Poor Ballot Design or Machine Tabulation Errors.
A Federal Judge in Tallahassee handed a Partial Legal Win to Nelson on Thursday, Ruling that the State’s Signature-Matching Statute for Evaluating Provisional and Mail-In Ballots lacks Constitutional Standing and giving Voters Two more Days to Correct Mismatched Signatures. Scott Appealed the Decision to a Higher Court.
UPDATE
The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday afternoon Declined to Stay the Order, effectively giving Voters extra time to cure the Defects on their Ballots.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
