Three statewide races appear to be heading for recounts

It now appears there will be three statewide races that go to recounts in Florida, and the vote gaps continue to narrow.

WOKV previously told you incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson was not conceding to Florida’s Republican Governor Rick Scott in the Senate race, even though Scott declared victory on Tuesday night. That race is now separated by a little more than 17,000 votes, which is .22% of the vote. That margin is slim enough, that it triggers a manual recount.

Democrat Andrew Gillum conceded to Republican Ron DeSantis in the Governor’s race Tuesday night, but then issued a statement today saying there were more uncounted votes than they had been aware of, and they want to ensure all of those are counted. The statement added they are prepared for any outcome, including a possible recount.

The margin on that race is now within the .5% margin that triggers a machine recount in Florida, with DeSantis leading by a little over 38,000 votes.

But the slimmest of them all is the race for Florida Agriculture Commissioner. Until now, Republican Matt Caldwell has been in the lead, but midday Thursday that flipped, and Democrat Nikki Fried now has the edge. The margin on that race is virtually non-existent, though- Fried leads by fewer than 600 votes.

This all comes as counties continue to review provisional ballots and otherwise firm up local numbers. They must report unofficial results to the state by noon Saturday. If the slim margins remain, the Florida Secretary of State will then order the recounts by machine.

The unofficial results of those machine recounts would be due back to the state no later than 3PM Thursday, November 15th. If any race is within a .25% margin, a manual recount would then be ordered.

Official returns are due to the state by noon on Sunday, November 18th. And will be certified by the Elections Canvassing Commission Tuesday, November 20th.

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