Broward completes midterm election recount ahead of Sunday deadline

Florida continues painstaking hand recount in U.S. Senate race

LAUDERHILL, Fla. ā€“ Determining the intent of about 93,000 Florida voters whose ballotsĀ could not be counted by machine will help determine the race betweenĀ Republican Gov. Rick Scott andĀ Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

The hand recount is required by state law whenever candidates are separated by 0.25 percentage points or less. Unofficial results showed Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points, or fewer than 13,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast.

In Broward County, officials relied on a color-coded system to tally some of the last ballots by hand.

Ballots with clear votes for Republican Gov. Rick Scott went into a bin with a red tag. Clear votes for Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson went into one with a blue tag. Blank ballots went into a bin with a yellow tag. Anything that needed further examination by the canvassing board was dropped into one with a green tag.

Dozens of volunteers sitting behind the bins stacked on folding tables in a Broward County warehouse cheered loudly when they finished their hand recount Friday morning. Results were not immediately announced.

The contest for governor appeared all but over Thursday, with a machine recount showing Republican DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Democrat Andrew Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race, which had a margin of 0.41 percent.

Gillum, who conceded on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that "it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted."

On Friday, however, President Donald Trump tweeted: "Congratulations to Ron DeSantis on becoming the new Governor of Florida. Against all odds, he fought & fought & fought, the result being a historic victory. He never gave up and never will. He will be a great Governor!ā€

The overall recount has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida could not finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline because of machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline.

"We gave a heroic effort,"Ā said Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said.

Broward County

CandidateNov. 6 TotalRecountDifference
Rick Scott211,119210,513-606
Bill Nelson471,334469,949-1,385
Ron DeSantis221,873221,252-621
Andrew Gillum481,677480,304-1,373
Matt Caldwell213,938213,322-616
Nikki Fried478,829477,448-1,381

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Miami-Dade County

CandidateNov. 6 TotalRecountDifference
Rick Scott316,014315,817-197
Bill Nelson485,195484,938-257
Ron DeSantis311,762311,556-206
Andrew Gillum479,041478,813-228
Matt Caldwell305,197305,034-163
Nikki Fried475,785475,594-191

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About the Author:

Louis Aguirre is an Emmy-award winning journalist who anchors weekday newscasts and serves as WPLG Local 10ā€™s Environmental Advocate.