Key Dates, Terms for Florida’s Recount Decisions on Governor, Senate Races
USA TODAY
2:02 p.m. ET Nov. 9, 2018
Florida Governor and Senate candidate Rick Scott says he is asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate elections offices in Palm Beach and Broward counties, questioning whether they were trying to inflate the Democratic vote.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It could take the whole month of November to definitively decide who Florida's next governor and senator will be.
By the end of this week, the top races on Florida's midterm ballot probably will cross the threshold into machine recounts of the ballots – and a possible hand recount of overvotes and undervotes.
Both Rick Scott and Bill Nelson have filed lawsuits in the state's Senate race.
On Thursday, Scott, the current Republican governor, said he asked the state's top law enforcement agency to investigate election operations in Broward and Palm Beach counties and filed lawsuits demanding access to ballots narrowing his lead against Nelson, the Democratic senator.
"I will not stand idly by while unethical liberals try to steal an election," Scott said.
Nov. 8: Andrew Gillum, Ron DeSantis Florida governor's race appears headed to a recount
Nov. 8: GOP's Rick Scott files lawsuit in Florida elections, accuses officials of 'rampant fraud'
Meanwhile, Nelson has filed a lawsuit asking that the deadline for local election officials to file preliminary unofficial vote totals to the state to be extended past noon Saturday.
In the governor's race, on Thursday, the unofficial count gave Republican nominee Ron DeSantis a 38,000-vote lead on Democrat Andrew Gillum. That appeared to be within the 0.5 percent margin that requires an automatic machine recount once the count is certified.
“Mayor Gillum started his campaign for the people and we are committed to ensuring every single vote in Florida is counted," said Gillum spokeswoman Johanna Cervone about the Tallahassee mayor.
In order to navigate the potential confusion, here are the important terms and dates as elections supervisors and the Florida Department of State's Division of Elections sort through more than 8.1 million ballots to determine the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections.
Key terms
Election day count: The number of ballots cast on Election Day.
Early in-person voting count: The number of ballots cast during the early voting period before Election Day.
Absentee ballot count: The number of absentee ballots mailed in and received by a local election office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Overseas military ballot count: The number of absentee ballots from military members and dependents stationed overseas mailed to local election offices. These can be accepted until Nov. 16 as long as they were postmarked no later than Nov. 6 and are added to the vote totals.
Recount: Florida law provides for an automatic recount when a race is particularly close. When the margin between the candidates is equal to or less than 0.5 percent, the laws provides for an automatic machine recount of the ballots, where county election officials run all the ballots through voting machines again. If the margin in races fall below 0.25 percent, the law provides for an automatic manual count of ballots where undervotes or overvotes are identified.
Nov. 8: Thousands of provisional ballots could flip Florida races now too close to call
Nov. 8: Democrats send 'army of lawyers' to Florida; Republicans accuse them of trying to steal Senate race
Undervote: Not every voter marks a selection in every race on their ballot. So when one race is skipped or no mark is recorded when the ballot goes through the machine, that's an undervote. But sometimes the machine doesn't properly read the voter's selection because it may not have been clear. The result, as was seen in Florida's Senate race, is that fewer votes are cast in a race than others in the same election. If a review of the ballot identifies a mark the voter made as a selection and the voter's intent can be determined, then it's counted. Democrats now are concerned that a large undervote in the Senate race is the result of machine errors.
Overvote: Some races receive more votes than the actual number of ballots cast in an election, and that creates an overvote. This often happens when voters, either intentionally or accidentally, mark multiple selections in the same race on their ballot. If a voter marks two or more selections in one race, that "true" overvote won't be counted for either selection.
Provisional ballots: A ballot is marked provisional by a county election official if there are questions about a voter's eligibility. If a voter doesn't have a photo ID when they arrive at a polling place, if there is confusion over where a voter is supposed to cast a ballot, or if an absentee ballot is mailed without a signature, the ballot can be identified as provisional and reviewed by local election officials before that vote is added to the total count. Republicans are concerned that some provisional ballots are being counted that don't qualify.
Canvassing board: Each of Florida's 67 counties has a canvassing board made up of the supervisor of elections, a county court judge and county commission chair. Each board examines provisional ballots and outstanding absentee ballots to determine whether they should be counted.
Unofficial results: Each county election office submits counts to the Florida Secretary of State's office from an election showing the number of ballots cast in each race. These results are considered unofficial and continue through the recount process, which means there can be more than one unofficial result reported after each step in the machine and by-hand recounts.
Saturday, Nov. 10, noon ET (all times Eastern): Canvassing boards' unofficial returns are due in Tallahassee. The Secretary of State then determines which races meet the less than 0.5 percent victory margin threshold requiring a machine recount.
Saturday, Nov. 10, 3 p.m.: State-wide machine recount begins.
Nov. 7: Election results: Bill Nelson pushes ahead with recount in Florida Senate race
Thursday, Nov. 15: Results of machine recounts due in Tallahassee.
Thursday, Nov. 15, 3 p.m.: Second unofficial returns are due in Tallahassee and the Secretary of State determines which races meet the less than a 0.25 percent victory margin threshold to order a hand recount of overvote and undervote ballots.
Friday, Nov. 16: Count begins for military and overseas ballots post-marked Nov. 6 or earlier.
Sunday, Nov. 18, noon: County canvassing boards hand count results due in Tallahassee.
Tuesday, November 20, 9 a.m.: The Elections Canvassing Commission, consisting of the governor and two cabinet members, meets to certify the Nov. 6 election official returns.
Friday, Nov. 30: Deadline for any candidate, voter or taxpayer to contest election results in circuit court.
Contributing: John McCarthy, Florida Today; James Call, Tallahassee Democrat. Includes reporting from the Tallahassee Democrat and the Naples (Fla.) Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow the Tallahassee Democrat and Naples Daily News on Twitter: @TDOnline and @ndn
2:02 p.m. ET Nov. 9, 2018
Florida Governor and Senate candidate Rick Scott says he is asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate elections offices in Palm Beach and Broward counties, questioning whether they were trying to inflate the Democratic vote.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It could take the whole month of November to definitively decide who Florida's next governor and senator will be.
By the end of this week, the top races on Florida's midterm ballot probably will cross the threshold into machine recounts of the ballots – and a possible hand recount of overvotes and undervotes.
Both Rick Scott and Bill Nelson have filed lawsuits in the state's Senate race.
On Thursday, Scott, the current Republican governor, said he asked the state's top law enforcement agency to investigate election operations in Broward and Palm Beach counties and filed lawsuits demanding access to ballots narrowing his lead against Nelson, the Democratic senator.
"I will not stand idly by while unethical liberals try to steal an election," Scott said.
Nov. 8: Andrew Gillum, Ron DeSantis Florida governor's race appears headed to a recount
Nov. 8: GOP's Rick Scott files lawsuit in Florida elections, accuses officials of 'rampant fraud'
Meanwhile, Nelson has filed a lawsuit asking that the deadline for local election officials to file preliminary unofficial vote totals to the state to be extended past noon Saturday.
In the governor's race, on Thursday, the unofficial count gave Republican nominee Ron DeSantis a 38,000-vote lead on Democrat Andrew Gillum. That appeared to be within the 0.5 percent margin that requires an automatic machine recount once the count is certified.
“Mayor Gillum started his campaign for the people and we are committed to ensuring every single vote in Florida is counted," said Gillum spokeswoman Johanna Cervone about the Tallahassee mayor.
In order to navigate the potential confusion, here are the important terms and dates as elections supervisors and the Florida Department of State's Division of Elections sort through more than 8.1 million ballots to determine the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections.
Key terms
Election day count: The number of ballots cast on Election Day.
Early in-person voting count: The number of ballots cast during the early voting period before Election Day.
Absentee ballot count: The number of absentee ballots mailed in and received by a local election office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Overseas military ballot count: The number of absentee ballots from military members and dependents stationed overseas mailed to local election offices. These can be accepted until Nov. 16 as long as they were postmarked no later than Nov. 6 and are added to the vote totals.
Recount: Florida law provides for an automatic recount when a race is particularly close. When the margin between the candidates is equal to or less than 0.5 percent, the laws provides for an automatic machine recount of the ballots, where county election officials run all the ballots through voting machines again. If the margin in races fall below 0.25 percent, the law provides for an automatic manual count of ballots where undervotes or overvotes are identified.
Nov. 8: Thousands of provisional ballots could flip Florida races now too close to call
Nov. 8: Democrats send 'army of lawyers' to Florida; Republicans accuse them of trying to steal Senate race
Undervote: Not every voter marks a selection in every race on their ballot. So when one race is skipped or no mark is recorded when the ballot goes through the machine, that's an undervote. But sometimes the machine doesn't properly read the voter's selection because it may not have been clear. The result, as was seen in Florida's Senate race, is that fewer votes are cast in a race than others in the same election. If a review of the ballot identifies a mark the voter made as a selection and the voter's intent can be determined, then it's counted. Democrats now are concerned that a large undervote in the Senate race is the result of machine errors.
Overvote: Some races receive more votes than the actual number of ballots cast in an election, and that creates an overvote. This often happens when voters, either intentionally or accidentally, mark multiple selections in the same race on their ballot. If a voter marks two or more selections in one race, that "true" overvote won't be counted for either selection.
Provisional ballots: A ballot is marked provisional by a county election official if there are questions about a voter's eligibility. If a voter doesn't have a photo ID when they arrive at a polling place, if there is confusion over where a voter is supposed to cast a ballot, or if an absentee ballot is mailed without a signature, the ballot can be identified as provisional and reviewed by local election officials before that vote is added to the total count. Republicans are concerned that some provisional ballots are being counted that don't qualify.
Canvassing board: Each of Florida's 67 counties has a canvassing board made up of the supervisor of elections, a county court judge and county commission chair. Each board examines provisional ballots and outstanding absentee ballots to determine whether they should be counted.
Unofficial results: Each county election office submits counts to the Florida Secretary of State's office from an election showing the number of ballots cast in each race. These results are considered unofficial and continue through the recount process, which means there can be more than one unofficial result reported after each step in the machine and by-hand recounts.
Saturday, Nov. 10, noon ET (all times Eastern): Canvassing boards' unofficial returns are due in Tallahassee. The Secretary of State then determines which races meet the less than 0.5 percent victory margin threshold requiring a machine recount.
Saturday, Nov. 10, 3 p.m.: State-wide machine recount begins.
Nov. 7: Election results: Bill Nelson pushes ahead with recount in Florida Senate race
Thursday, Nov. 15: Results of machine recounts due in Tallahassee.
Thursday, Nov. 15, 3 p.m.: Second unofficial returns are due in Tallahassee and the Secretary of State determines which races meet the less than a 0.25 percent victory margin threshold to order a hand recount of overvote and undervote ballots.
Friday, Nov. 16: Count begins for military and overseas ballots post-marked Nov. 6 or earlier.
Sunday, Nov. 18, noon: County canvassing boards hand count results due in Tallahassee.
Tuesday, November 20, 9 a.m.: The Elections Canvassing Commission, consisting of the governor and two cabinet members, meets to certify the Nov. 6 election official returns.
Friday, Nov. 30: Deadline for any candidate, voter or taxpayer to contest election results in circuit court.
Contributing: John McCarthy, Florida Today; James Call, Tallahassee Democrat. Includes reporting from the Tallahassee Democrat and the Naples (Fla.) Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow the Tallahassee Democrat and Naples Daily News on Twitter: @TDOnline and @ndn
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