Seminole County canvassing board reviews provisional ballots one by one
One by one Thursday evening, two county judges and two local attorneys — each with a critical eye — reviewed the legitimacy of more than 250 provisional ballots that were cast by Seminole County voters but not counted on Election Day.
Provisional ballots are contingency ballots cast whenever elections workers at polling stations are unable to verify a voter’s registration status. For example, when a voter shows up at a voting place without photo identification or their signature does not match the one on file, they are given a provisional ballot by a poll worker.
The county’s canvassing board — made up of Supervisor of Elections Michael Ertel; county judges John Woodard and Jerri Collins; and attorneys Perry Nardi and John Edward Jones — studied the 265 provisional ballots on a table in the lobby of the county’s elections office. Some provisional ballots were cast by residents who were not registered to vote. Others were mail-in ballots that lacked signatures.
In the end, more than 140 of the provisional ballots were counted as legitimate votes after a threehour review.
But it wasn’t enough to declare a new winner in any political contest.
Republican Jay Zembower — who gained 41 votes — still won by a whisker-thin margin over Democrat Katrina Shadix — who received 113 more votes — in the County Commission District 2 race. Because Zembower’s margin was less than half a percent, a recount is required under Florida law. If the recount shows the margin less than a quarter percent, then a hand recount is held.
Sen. Bill Nelson gained 123 votes, and his opponent, Republican Gov. Rick Scott, received 50 new votes, in their U.S. Senate race. In the race for governor, Democrat Andrew Gillum received 127 votes, and Republican Ron DeSantis added 45 votes.
That provisional ballot count will be part of the final tally that Seminole County election officials will send to the state.
The Orange County canvassing board met Thursday and had not yet released the results. The Lake County canvassing board will meet at 1 p.m. Friday to count its provisional ballots.
There will be a statewide recount in the Senate race between Scott and Nelson, who trails by about 22,000 votes with final results still trickling in. Recounts also are expected in the races for governor and agriculture commissioner, where Democrat Nikki Fried has taken a slim lead over Republican Matt Caldwell.
Ertel said his office expects to learn more from state officials on Saturday afternoon about the recounts for the three closely contested statewide races.
About two dozen people were on hand to observe the canvassing board review, including representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties, attorneys for candidates and a few residents.
“It’s important that we can come here and observe the process,” said Rob Bial, chairman of the Seminole Democratic Party.
Kathryn Townsend, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Seminole County, agreed.
“It’s to make sure that everyone’s vote counts,” she said. “And we’ve never had a problem here in Seminole County.”