What You Need To Know About The Florida Recount

*Keep checking back for more updates*

LATEST VOTE TOTALS


U.S SENATE

Rick Scott: 50.07% (4,098,107 votes)

Bill Nelson: 49.92% (4,085,545 votes)

*Difference of 0.15% or 12,562 votes 


GOVERNOR

Ron DeSantis: 49.59% (4,075,879 votes)

Andrew Gillum: 49.18% (4,042,195 votes)

*Difference of 0.41% or 33,684 votes 


AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER

Nikki Fried: 50.03% (4,030,337 votes)

Matt Caldwell: 49.97% (4,025,011 votes)

*Difference of 0.06% or 5,326 votes 


STATE SENATE DISTRICT 18

Janet Cruz: 50.09% (104,001 votes)

Dana Young: 49.91% (103,625 votes)

*Difference of 0.18% or 376 votes 


Two other races will undergo recounts: House District 26 in Volusia County and House District 89 in Palm Beach County. 


WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Each race will undergo a machine recount first. State law requires a machine recount for any race within a 0.50% margin. The machine recounts will take place over the next few days, with the final results due by 3pm Thursday, November 15th. 

From our friends at FloridaPolitics.com

In a machine recount, all ballots are fed through voting machines. Ballots with “undervotes” or “overvotes” — in which voters may have skipped races or made extra marks in races, causing their ballots to be rejected by the machines — are set aside, or “outstacked.”

In races that go to manual recounts after the Thursday deadline, county canvassing boards will examine the “outstacked” ballots.

The results from the manual recounts must be provided to the state no later than noon on Nov. 18. Two days later, the state Elections Canvassing Commission, comprised of Scott and two members of the Florida Cabinet, will meet in Tallahassee to certify the official election results.


WILL THE RECOUNT CHANGE THE OUTCOMES? 

It's unlikely for the governor's race, but possible for the others. According to Ryan Tyson, there have been 27 recounts in U.S. elections between 2000 and 2015. The average change in a recount has been 0.016%. 

Politico's Matt Dixon reported this on Twitter: "The biggest swing in votes after a recount was 2,208 in the 2004 Washington governor's race." All three statewide races will go into the recount outside of that margin. 


HAS THERE BEEN FRAUD? 

Both the Florida Department of State and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement haven't found any instances of fraud, including monitors sent by Governor Scott to Broward County to oversee the election. Click Here for more. 

However, the Scott campaign won two lawsuits, one against Palm Beach County and the other against Broward County, for transparency issues. Click Here to read about the latest on the lawsuits and Click Here to listen to Ryan Gorman's interview with FSU Law Professor Michael Morley for a detailed explanation of the issues that led to the lawsuits. 

AND...the Broward elections office made 22 void provisional ballots (due to mismatched signatures and other violations) part of the final count because of a mixup. Click Here to read more from the Miami Herald. 

Also, the Bay County supervisor of elections allowed some voters there to cast ballots by fax and email, something that state law does not allow. Click Here for the full report from the Miami Herald. 


WHAT'S TRUE AND WHAT'S NOT

South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter Dan Sweeney put together a great piece explaining which allegations about the elections here in Florida are true and which ones aren't. Click Here to check it out. 


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