Florida election officials ordered statewide ballot recounts Saturday as ferocious battles over vote tallies left Senate and governor’s races there in doubt.
Unofficial vote totals submitted today at noon gave Republican Ron DeSantis a 0.4 percent edge over Democrat Andrew Gillum in the governor’s race, triggering an automatic machine recount under state law.
Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s advantage over incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson in the fight for a seat in the U.S. Senate was just 0.15 percent — 12,562 votes out of nearly 8.2 million cast.
If the machine recount yields a margin of victory less than 0.25 percent, state law requires Florida to conduct a hand recount that could take weeks.
In a statement issued shortly after the provisional totals were released, Scott urged Nelson to concede.
“Bill Nelson’s lawyer Marc Elias has previously stated that margins smaller than ours are ‘insurmountable,’” Scott’s campaign said.
As news of the recount broke, Trump weighed in on Twitter.
“Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!” he stated.
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