Florida election count is underway, but issues delay process in key county

The first election officers began the enormous task of recounting the ballots in the very close races of Florida for the US Senate and Governor.

Miami-Dade County election officials began distributing ballot papers on digital machines on Saturday night. The tedious job in this single South Florida county could take days, knowing that 800,000 ballots have been cast. Multiply that figure by 67 counties in the third most populous state in the country, and the scale of the task began to sink on Sunday.

On Sunday, counting was delayed in Florida's second-most populous county, due to machinery issues.

Broward County was expected to start counting about 700,000 ballots Sunday morning, but one tested machine did not register all ballots. Republican officials demanded that all machines be tested again and county officials agreed.

The heavily Democratic county is one of two countries where Republicans have alleged possible electoral fraud. Elections in the state and law enforcement officials claim that they have seen no evidence suggesting that the allegations are true.

On Saturday, the Florida Secretary of State ordered the stories, an unprecedented step for the two flagship races in a state that took five weeks to decide the 2000 presidential election. The Office of the Secretary of State Ken Detzner said he was unaware that the Florida governor or US Senate candidacy race required a recount, not to mention both in the same election.

The 67 counties in Florida can decide when to begin their recount, but must finish by Thursday. Election officials in two large counties in the Tampa Bay area – Pinellas and Hillsborough – have announced that they will begin their accounts Sunday morning.

Unofficial results show that former US Republican Representative Ron DeSantis led Tallahbadee Mayor Andrew Democratic, Mayor of Tallahbadee, with less than 0.5 percentage point, which will require a new count. voices. In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott's advance on Democrat MP Bill Nelson is less than 0.25 percentage point, which requires a manual recount of ballots from tab machines that could not determine the candidate having obtained the vote.

The recount takes place in a context of political tensions. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday without any evidence of election theft. Angry protesters gathered Saturday in a Broward County polling station, waving placards and shouting with loudspeakers.

Following the announcement of the recount, Gillum withdrew his concession from the governor.

"Let me make it clear that I am replacing my concession words with an uncompromising and unapologetic appeal that we count every vote," he said, adding that he would accept any possible outcome.

In a video statement released Saturday, DeSantis said the election results were "clear and unambiguous" and that he was preparing to become the next governor of the state. He also thanked election supervisors, solicitors, and state staff for their "hard work in ensuring that all legal votes are counted."

"It is important that all those involved in the electoral process scrupulously respect the rule of law, the foundation of our country," he said.

In the recount in the Senate, Scott urged the state sheriffs to "monitor any violations and take the measures that are required" during the recount.

Scott and his supporters, including Trump, said election fraud was ongoing in Broward's democratically-minded county, where the number of Republicans has decreased since polling day. There is no evidence of electoral fraud and the state's electoral division, led by Scott, said Saturday that his observers at Broward had seen "no evidence of criminal activity".

The Florida law enforcement department announced Friday that it had not opened any investigation into election fraud.

The scene recalled the 2000 presidential recount, when it took Florida more than five weeks to declare George W. Bush the winner of Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes, giving Bush the presidency.

It was mocked Florida for the way he had handled the famous recount of 2000, especially since there was no uniform process at that time. This has changed since the legislature has adopted a clear procedure on how to recount.

Florida is also conducting a recount in a third race at the state level. Democrat Nikki Fried had a 0.07 percent lead over Republican state representative Matt Caldwell in the race for the agriculture commissioner, one of three seats in the Florida government.