By HENRY FREDERICKORLANDO, Fla. -- Amid continuing partisan political rancor from both sides, the court-mandated recounting of ballots for US senator and Florida governor was well Sunday underway in Broward County and across the Sunshine State.
The recount of 700,000 votes in Broward, the second most populous of Florida's 64 counties, was delayed for three hours early on early on because a machine wasn’t registering all ballots when it was tested. GOP party observers on hand insisted all the machines and that task was carried out in earnest.
Elections staff have more than 3.5 million pages to sort before they can start the actual recount — a task estimated to take up to 35 hours, said Joseph D’Alessandro, director of election planning and development, according to a story in the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale.
The situation in Palm Beach County is even more unsettling with Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher telling CNN anchor Ana Cabera in a live broadcast that there is no way her staff can meet Thursday's statewide deadlines for completion of the recounts, blunting describing it as "impossible."
There was plenty of partisan rancor from both major parties, with a new term added to the equation: voter suppression, as suggested by Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for governor, who initially conceded defeat to Republican Ron DeSantis on election night and then took it back, saying every vote needs to be counted.
Florida's secretary of state on Saturday ordered the statewide recounts with a deadline of Nov. 15 for completion of the counting of ballots for two of the nation's most talked-about races out of Florida: US senator and governor.
In the senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott's leads Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by less than 0.25 percent. And in the race for governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, the former congressman, is ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 0.5 percent in unofficial voting from Tuesday's midterm elections.
Florida's secretary of state on Saturday ordered the statewide recounts with a deadline of Nov. 15 for completion of the counting of ballots for two of the nation's most talked-about races out of Florida: US senator and governor.
In the senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott's leads Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by less than 0.25 percent.
And in the race for governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, the former congressman, is ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 0.5 percent in unofficial voting from Tuesday's midterm elections.