UPDATE 5:30 pm 11-15-18

HEADED TO HAND RECOUNT? It appears the Fla. Senate race is headed to a hand recount, while the race for Fla. Governor may be over.

After recount numbers were counted, it appears the Florida Senate race is headed to a hand recount.

UPDATE 2:00PM 11-15-18

Federal judge denies request to extend Florida recount deadline

Federal judge denies request to extend approaching deadline for recounts in tight Florida races for US Senate, governor.

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UPDATE 1:00 PM 11-15-18

judge gives voters more time to fix ballots

Judge Mark Walker on Thursday told lawyers during a recount hearing that Florida is the "laughingstock of the world election after election" when it comes to voting and gave residents more time to fix their ballots so they can be tallied in the Senate and governor races.
"We chose not to fix this," said Walker, the U.S. chief district judge. He ruled Thursday that the state's law on mail-in ballots places a substantial burden on voters and he gave them until Saturday to fix any mismatched signatures that might prevent their ballots from being counted.

UPDATE 11:30 AM 11-14-18

Gov. Rick Scott to step down from elections board responsible for certifying results of Florida recount

Florida Gov. Rick Scott will step down from the state panel responsible for certifying the results in the state's highly contested elections.

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UPDATE 5pm 11-13-18
Image: BREAKING NEWS: Embattled Broward elections chief says she may step down after recount

Embattled Broward elections chief says she may step down after recount

Brenda Snipes said Tuesday that she's considering stepping aside as Broward County supervisor of elections after the recount amid a firestorm of criticism over how her office has handled recent elections.

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Image: FLORIDA RECOUNT: Broward County hasn't begun recount, while Miami-Dade County more than halfway done

Broward County elections workers were still sorting ballots early Tuesday ahead of Thursday's state-mandated recount.

UPDATE 9:30 AM 11-13-18

Broward County hasn't begun recount, while Miami-Dade County more than halfway done

Broward County Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes said the process was delayed after one of the county's 10 ballot-counting machines malfunctioned. The machines had to be calibrated during the weekend, so workers weren't able to start sorting through all the ballots until Sunday.

"I've worked here for about 15 years, and I have to say, this is the first time that this office or I have been under such a tax," Snipes said.

Despite the delay, Snipes said she is confident the recount will be finished by the state-mandated deadline.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner on Saturday ordered statewide recounts for three races -- governor, U.S. Senate and agriculture commissioner.

The recount was ordered after unofficial results showed Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis leading Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41 percentage points for governor. Republican Gov. Rick Scott's lead over Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was 0.14 per

All eyes are on South Florida, as elections workers have until Thursday to finish a statewide recount.

UPDATE 11-13-18
From NY Times

Republicans’ push to discredit the vote recount in Florida reflects a cold political calculation, aimed at securing the party’s Senate majority and its agenda. Here’s more on the strategy.

• A judge in Florida urged lawyers involved in the recount battle to “ramp down the rhetoric” and take accusations of electoral fraud where they belong: to the police. Read about the controversy.

UPDATE 11-12-18
From Miami Herald

Two days after state officials ordered a statewide recount in three key races that ended within razor-thin margins, Broward County elections officials said Monday they have not yet started their recount of more than 700,000 ballots it must tally before Thursday’s deadline.

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said she was not concerned that her office would not meet its deadline, even if the start of the recount is delayed until Tuesday morning.

“No, there is not” any concern, said Snipes, whose headquarters in Lauderhill was once again surrounded Monday by a small Trump, crowd of protesters critical of the elections chief and her competence to serve.

Broward will conduct three statewide recounts and additional recounts on four municipal races, all of which are on the first page of Broward’s ballots. The machines have to first separate that page from the rest of each ballot before they can then be refed and recounted. (Ballots in Broward county can range from four to seven pages, depending on the city.)

Florida law requires an automatic recount in a race in which the difference in vote totals is half a percent or less. The law requires a manual recount if the difference in the vote totals is 1/4 of a percent or less.

The razor-thin margins in the races of U.S. Senate, agriculture commissioner and the governor’s race caused Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner to order mandatory machine recounts in all three statewide races Saturday after all counties submitted their unofficial results by noon.

Here’s a timeline on what happens next:

Thursday, Nov. 15: The second round of unofficial returns is due from the counties at 3 p.m.

Those in charge of recounting votes, the county canvassing boards, are comprised of the county supervisor of elections, a circuit court judge, Betsy Benson and county commission chair. This group is tasked with testing voting machines for technical errors and reporting any problems to the Secretary of State’s Office within 11 days.

At that point, the Florida Secretary of State and the Divison of Elections will determine whether the returns of those results meet the statutory threshold for a manual recount.

A manual recount is legally required under Florida law for federal, state or multicounty races or issues if the margin between candidates/issues is below 0.25 percent.

Nov. 16: Overseas Ballots Deadline

In compliance with the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the deadline in Florida for overseas ballots from applicable military and civilian is Nov. 16.

The ballots must be postmarked or signed and dated on or before the Nov. 6 Election Day.

Nov. 18: Official Returns Deadline

County canvassing boards have a noon deadline on Nov. 18 to produce official returns.

Nov. 20: Official Returns Certified

The Elections Canvassing Commission, which is made up of the Florida governor and two members of the Florida Cabinet selected by the governor, meet in Tallahassee at 9 a.m. on Nov. 20 to certify the official returns from federal, state and multi-county offices