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Tensions high as Florida election recounts kick off
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The first election workers began the enormous task of recounting ballots yesterday in Florida鈥檚 bitterly close races for the US Senate and governor, ramping up their efforts after the secretary of state ordered a review of the two nationally watched contests.
Miami-Dade County election officials began feeding ballots into scanning machines on Saturday evening. The tedious work in that one South Florida county alone could take days, considering some 800,000 ballots were cast. Multiply that by 67 counties in the United States鈥 third most populous state, and the scope of the task was beginning to sink yesterday.
The Florida secretary of state ordered the recounts on Saturday, an unprecedented step for the two flagship races in a state that took five weeks to decide the 2000 presidential election. Secretary of State Ken Detzner鈥檚 office said it was unaware of any other time either a race for governor or US Senate in Florida required a recount, let alone both in the same election.
Florida鈥檚 67 counties can decide when to begin their recounts, but must complete them by Thursday. Elections officials in two large counties in the Tampa Bay area 鈥 Pinellas and Hillsborough 鈥 said they would begin recounts Sunday morning.
Unofficial results show that Republican former US Representative Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 0.5 percentage points, which will require a machine recount of ballots. In the Senate race, Republican Governor Rick Scott鈥檚 lead over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson is less than 0.25 percentage points, requiring a hand recount of ballots from tabulation machines that couldn鈥檛 determine which candidate got the vote.
The recount opens against a backdrop of political tensions. President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted without evidence that the elections were being stolen. Angry protesters gathered at an elections office in Broward County on Saturday, waving signs and shouting with bullhorns.
Following the announcement of a recount, Gillum withdrew his concession in the governor鈥檚 race.
鈥淟et me say clearly, I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unapologetic call that we count every single vote,鈥 he said, adding that he would accept whatever outcome emerges.
In a video statement released Saturday, DeSantis said the election results were 鈥渃lear and unambiguous鈥 and that he was preparing to become the state鈥檚 next governor.
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