Florida Again At The Center Of A Recount

Elections in Florida are rarely easily decided and this year is no exception. Late last night it was looking clear that Rick Scott (currently Florida’s Governor) was unseating Bill Nelson. But today the incumbent is saying not so fast.

Nelson released a brief statement saying “We are proceeding to a recount.”

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

The Nelson campaign is preparing to have election observers in all 67 counties to oversee the recount process, it said Wednesday. He sent out a fundraising email Wednesday morning asking for donations to help pay for an “emergency response recount fund.”

“We expect the supervisors, regardless of their party affiliation, will discharge their constitutional duties,” said Marc Elias, an election lawyer representing the Nelson campaign.

Whatever the outcome, it’s a fitting finish for a race that has been neck-and-neck since the first poll of 2018 dropped in early February. Nelson by one over Scott, it said. A statistical tie.

The Miami Herald adds:

Even with an automatic vote recount, it may not be smart to bet on a different outcome, especially with optical scan ballots.

In other words, this likely won’t be a reprisal of Florida’s presidential election recount in 2000 when the manual counting of paper ballots and hanging chads gave George W. Bush a 537 vote edge over Al Gore.

Under state law there is no provision for candidates to request a recount, but a losing candidate can submit a written request that a recount not be held. That’s not likely to happen.

The recount can only be triggered by the margin of votes, and in this Senate race it appears to have been met.

Scott had declared victory last night and isn’t exactly reacting well to news of a recount.