Recount to begin in Florida Senate and governor's races, in echo of 2000 presidential election

Source: Washington Post



As heavily Democratic counties in South Florida scrambled to meet a Saturday deadline to report election returns, Republican Rick Scott's lead over Democrat Bill Nelson in the U.S. Senate race shrunk to just 12,562 votes out of nearly 8.2 million votes cast, ensuring a recount.

Vote totals posted Saturday showed the margin in the marquee race in the nation's biggest battleground state at .015 percent, close enough to trigger a recount by machine. Also hitting that threshold was the race for governor between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis, who is sitting on slightly bigger cushion of 33,684 votes over Gillum.

In Broward and Palm Beach counties Saturday morning, attorneys from both parties quibbled over ballots in which the intent or eligibility of the voter was in doubt as the minutes ticked toward a noon deadline. Scott's narrowing lead as vote-counting continued this week has provoked litigation and raucous street protests reminiscent of the contentious 2000 election, as well as accusations by President Trump of "election theft."

Scott, who has also raised allegations of fraud, used his bully pulpit Saturday to encourage Florida sheriffs to keep an eye out for any violations of election laws. But the claims by the president and the governor were undercut Saturdayby the Florida Department of State, which said in a statement it found "no evidence of criminal activity at this time. " The department, which oversees elections, had sent two monitors to observe Tuesday's vote in Broward County as result of a lawsuit over the mishandling of ballots in a 2016 congressional race.



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/recount-to-begin-in-florida-senate-and-governors-races-in-echo-of-2000-presidential-election/2018/11/10/1241d726-e502-11e8-a1c9-6afe99dddd92_story.html