USA TODAY International Edition
Gillum pulls back his concession
Florida recount goes on as DeSantis urges unity
With a statewide machine recount of more than 8 million votes underway in Florida for three statewide seats including governor, Andrew Gillum pulled back hard on his concession speech of Tuesday night and vowed to make sure every vote is counted.
“Let me say clearly, I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromising and unapologetic call that we count every single vote,” said the Democratic nominee for governor at a 3 p.m. news conference Saturday. “I say this recognizing my fate in this may or may not change.”
It appeared the election was going to his opponent, Republican former congressman Ron DeSantis, on Tuesday night, and he conceded in front of a crowd at Florida A&M University.
But now, he said, those who want the recount stopped are using those words against him.
Scott, whose lead in the U.S. Senate race against longtime incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson shrunk dramatically, filed a lawsuit seeking to stop “unethical liberals” from stealing the election and called on sheriff’s deputies around the state to monitor the recount.
“We don’t get the opportunity to stop counting votes because we don’t like the direction the outcome is heading,” Gillum said.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered machine recounts in the the hotly contested races for U.S. Senate, Florida governor and commissioner of agriculture Saturday after the first unofficial count showed all were within the halfpercent margin for the statutorily mandated recount.
With all counties reporting, DeSantis led Tallahassee Mayor Gillum by fewer than 34,000 votes or a margin of 0.409 percent, with all counties reporting to the Divisions of Elections, including the troubled Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Without acknowledging the recount, DeSantis broke his silence and said in a 1-minute video that the results of the unofficial results submitted “are clear and unambiguous, just as they were on election night, and I am honored by the trust that Floridians have placed in me to serve as your next governor.”
He added that he appreciated the work of all involved to make sure all lawful votes were counted.
DeSantis has appointed a transition team that includes U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, former Sen. George LeMieux, former Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings and House Speaker Richard Corcoran.
“With the election behind us, it’s now time to come together as a state as we prepare to serve all Floridians,” DeSantis said.
Who’s in the lead
The candidate most critical of the election process is Scott, whose lead dwindled to less than 13,000 votes over Nelson for a margin of 0.15 percent. He successfully sued Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes over allegedly withholding information.
“We have every expectation the recount will be full and fair and will continue taking action to ensure every vote is counted without interference or efforts to undermine the democratic process,” Nelson said in a news release. “We believe when every legal ballot is counted we’ll win this election”
Scott also alleged election fraud and said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the situation. That turned out not to be the case, because the FDLE had not received a complaint in writing from the governor nor seen any evidence of fraud.
The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed in an email Saturday that two experts sent to observe Snipes and her administration throughout the result certification process “has seen no evidence of criminal activity at this time.”
Nelson and the Democratic Executive Committee sued Detzner in federal court to push the deadline back for filing preliminary ballots. The original judge assigned, Robert Hinkle, recused himself Saturday after remembering “my brother is a party to a lawsuit involving Governor Rick Scott. This would not affect my handling of this case, but a reasonable person might think otherwise.”
Detzner responded to Nelson’s motion for a restraining order and preliminary injunction, saying the “plaintiff asks for too much too late.” All counties had submitted their preliminary results, and two recounts were triggered – a House race in Volusia County and a Senate race in Hillsborough County – with more recounts likely.
“Granting the Plaintiffs any of the relief they seek would force county canvassing boards throughout the State to undo and then redo their work – to undo the current count and stop ongoing recount efforts only to start the process again,” Detzner’s lawyers wrote. “Significant delays, confusion, and a higher probability of errors would result.”
Republican Matt Caldwell, who is down by 5,326 votes or a margin of 0.06 percent against Democrat Nikki Fried in the Agriculture Commissioner race, also sued the Broward County Supervisor of Elections.
Richard, who was the attorney for George W. Bush in 2000, said this time around is vastly different. First and foremost, in 2000, recounts were driven exclusively by candidates who had the right to designate which counties were recounted.
“Within days of the 2000 election there were 47 lawsuits filed and it went on for 36 days,” Richard said.
The Legislature was motivated not to let that happen again, he said.
Recount deadlines
The deadline for a machine recount is 3 p.m. Nov. 15. If the result of a machine recount produces a margin of 0.25 percent or less, then the Secretary of State must order a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes rejected by the machine scanners. The deadline for overseas and military ballots is Nov. 16. Official returns are due from all canvassing boards no later than noon on Nov. 18.