Florida to recount ballots for Senate, governor

The Florida secretary of state ordered recounts in the U.S. Senate and governor’s races Saturday. Unofficial results showed candidates in both elections fell within .5 of a percentage point of each other, the margin that triggers a recount. Votes in the governor’s race between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum will be recounted by machines. The final tally is due 3 p.m. Thursday. But the margin in the Senate race between Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson is smaller than .25 percentage points, so some of those ballots will have to be recounted by hand and won’t be due back until Nov. 18. Eighteen years ago, an infamous recount in Florida left the winner of the presidential election undecided for more than a month. The Supreme Court ultimately decided the vote favored former President George W. Bush. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s office was unaware of any other time either a governor’s or U.S. Senate race required a recount, let alone both in the same election.