Senator Nelson: ‘We are proceeding to a recount’

Jacksonville, FL — Florida Senator Bill Nelson says his campaign is proceeding to a recount.

In a statement, Nelson says Governor Rick Scott prematurely claimed victory. Nelson’s campaign says the tally in the race continued in to the morning, and that Scott’s lead is 0.4 percent.

“This race is over. It's a sad way for Bill Nelson to end his career. He is desperately trying to hold on to something that no longer exists”, said Chris Hartline, Spokesman for Scott for Florida.

Under Florida law, recounts for any races or issues are determined by statutory thresholds following receipt of the first unofficial returns, which are due from the county canvassing boards no later than Noon on November 10th.  Recounts must be ordered by the Florida Secretary of State, or a county canvassing board, before a recount can be initiated.

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

Nelson’s campaign says it will contact voters whose ballots were not counted due to a lack of ID or a matching address.  And it plans to have observers in all 67 Florida counties watching for any irregularities and more.

The Florida Department of State has a specific outline for a recount: 

-A Machine Recount occurs if the first set of unofficial returns indicates that a candidate was defeated or eliminated by ½ of one percent or less of the total votes cast for an office, or if an issue (such as a constitutional amendment) was approved or rejected by ½ of one percent or less of the total votes cast on the issue. (Section 102.141(7), Florida Statutes and Rule 1S-2.031, Florida Administrative Code)

-The Machine Recount means all ballots are re-tabulated, or re-fed, through a county’s precinct tabulators and/or central count tabulators.

-Ballots with overvotes and undervotes in the affected race(s) are subsequently set-aside in case a manual recount occurs.

-Exception to ordering a machine recount: If the candidate(s) defeated or eliminated from contention for the office by ½ of one percent or less request in writing that a machine recount not be conducted.

-A Manual Recount occurs if the second set of unofficial returns indicates that a candidate was eliminated or defeated by ¼ of one percent or less of the votes cast for the office, or if an issue was approved or rejected by ¼ of one percent or less of the total votes cast on the issue. (Section 102.166, Florida Statutes and Rules 1S-2.027 and Rule 1S-2.051, Florida Administrative Code)

-The Manual Recount is a hand recount of overvotes and undervotes set-aside from the machine recount.

Exceptions to ordering a manual recount:

-If the candidate(s) defeated or eliminated from contention for the office by ¼ of one percent or less request in writing that it not be conducted; OR if the number of overvotes and undervotes is less than the number of votes needed to change the election outcome.

Results: The results from the manual recount will be reflected in the Official Returns due to the state on November 18, 2018.

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