DeSantis and Gillum head to a recount; Rubio blasts Broward election officials

The Florida gubernatorial race is officially headed for a recount, as late votes have poured in, narrowing the margin by which Republican Ron DeSantis leads Democrat Andrew Gillum.

The late votes are coming from Broward and Palm Beach counties, the Sun-Sentinel reports. According to the latest vote tally from the Florida secretary of state's office, DeSantis leads Gillum by just 0.47 percent. Florida state law requires a mandatory machine recount if the margin between two candidates is less than 0.5 percent.

Gillum conceded the race to DeSantis Tuesday evening, but since the additional ballots have been counted his campaign has released a statement indicating it will seek a recount if necessary.

Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., blasted Broward County election officials in a series of tweets Thursday, accusing Democrats of trying to "steal" the election.

Long but IMPORTANT THREAT ON ELECTIONS IN #FLORIDA.#BayCounty was hit by a Cat 4 Hurricane just 4 weeks ago,yet managed to count votes & submit timely results.

Yet over 41 hours after polls closed #Broward elections office is still counting votes? #Sayfie

1/6

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

#Broward supervisor:

- says she doesn’t know how many ballots are left to be counted; &

- Isn’t reporting hourly or regularly,but rather releasing thousands of additional votes,often in the overnight hours,that are chipping away at GOP leads

2/6 #Sayfie

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

#Broward elections department has a history of violating the law:

A court found they improperly handled votes by mail:https://t.co/NOE6qdbWly

Court found they destroyed ballots in 2016 in violation of state & federal law:https://t.co/ywP8qE46J5 #Sayfie

3/6

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

Now democrat lawyers are descending on #Florida. They have been very clear they aren’t here to make sure every vote is counted.

- They are here to change the results of election; &

- #Broward is where they plan to do it.#Sayfie

4/6

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

A U.S. Senate seat & a statewide cabinet officer are now potentially in the hands of an elections supervisor with a history of incompetence & of blatant violations of state & federal laws.

Read Here: https://t.co/empQvOOgEb

5/6#Sayfie

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

#Broward election supervisors ongoing violation of #Florida law requiring timely reporting isn’t just annoying incompetence. It has opened the door for lawyers to come here & try to steal a seat in the U.S. Senate & Florida Cabinet

#Sayfie

6/6

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

#Florida law requires counties report early voting & vote-by-mail within 30 minutes after polls close. 43 hours after polls closed 2 Democrat strongholds #BrowardCounty & #PalmBeachCounty are still counting & refusing to disclose how many ballots they have left to count. #Sayfie pic.twitter.com/ReXCaOzkZP

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

Latest ballots dumped by #Broward &/or #PalmBeach flipped Ag Comm race to Dem & shaved another 4k+ from Scott’s lead in Senate race

Since 3am Wed slow drip from these 2 Dem controlled counties cut Scott lead from 54 to 17K. And they refuse to disclose # of ballots they have left pic.twitter.com/2K8hR4D2P2

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018

DeSantis currently leads Gillum by 38,515 votes. Likewise, Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott leads his opponent, incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., by roughly 22,000 votes. The Senate race is also headed for a recount.

Historically, election recounts shift vote tallies by hundreds of votes, not tens of thousands. In the 2008 Minnesota race, Democrat Al Franken trailed by 212 votes when a recount was called. After the recount, he won the race by 312 votes. In the most famous election recount in recent memory, during the 2000 presidential election, the margin between Republican George W. Bush and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore was 1,784 votes, with Bush leading. After two recounts, Bush's lead was reduced to just 327 votes, and the case ultimately went to the Supreme Court.

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