Two days after the elections, some of the most-watched races in the country are still being watched, because they’re still up in the air. Florida’s Senate and governor’s races and Georgia’s governor’s race are all led by Republicans, but within the margin that might conceivably lead to a recount or runoff.
In Florida, campaigns are looking for voters who cast provisional ballots and have until 5 PM Thursday to provide the needed information to get their votes counted. Those provisional ballots could be the tipping point to recounts: The Senate race between Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott is within the .5 percent threshold for a machine recount and just above the .25 threshold for a hand recount. The gubernatorial race between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis is either just above the machine recount threshold or creeping within it as the day goes on:
As of Thursday morning, Scott led Nelson by 21,899 votes or .26 percent of 8.2 million ballots cast, making it likely the closest Senate race in Florida’s history, according to the state Division of Elections web site. Matt Caldwell led Nikki Fried in the agriculture commissioner race by 4,109 votes or .06 percent. DeSantis led Gillum by 42,938 or .52 percent. The recount threshold is .5 percent.
A subsequent report puts Gillum within the recount margin. As they say, developing ...
In Georgia, where state law calls for a runoff if no candidate gets 50 percent plus one, Democrat Stacey Abrams trails Republican Brian Kemp by 63,000 votes, putting Kemp just over the runoff mark. Abrams is not conceding as 3,000 absentee ballots and 22,000 provisional ballots remain to be counted, which could conceivably force the runoff. “In 2016, with a slightly larger electorate, 7,592 of 16,739 provisional ballots were counted,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. We don’t yet know—and may never know—how many people were unable to vote because Kemp, in his role as secretary of state, blocked them from doing so directly or by creating the inadequate voting conditions in Democratic-leaning areas that left many people waiting in line for hours.