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Clay readies for recount

By Nick Blank
Posted 11/14/18

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A week after the Nov. 6 general election, three state races in Florida with razor-thin margins were ordered for a recount.

Though Clay County may be not be under the …

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Clay readies for recount


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A week after the Nov. 6 general election, three state races in Florida with razor-thin margins were ordered for a recount.

Though Clay County may be not be under the national microscope like Broward and Palm Beach counties, volunteers and staff prepared and tested equipment Tuesday morning at the Clay County Supervisor of Elections office. More than 60 volunteers will be feeding about 94,000 ballots into machines on Wednesday morning with observers present.

Supervisor of Election Chris Chambless said he expects the process to take between 12-14 hours.

“This process is very methodically laid out by statute. We’ll adhere to that statute and that rule,” Chambless said. “I expect nothing less than a professional, accurately-conducted recount. We’ll start at 9 a.m. and when we finish, we’ll finish.”

Chambless said the required Logic and Accuracy Testing verifies to the public the accuracy of the election that was coded, as well as the equipment that counts the votes.

“You sample a randomly-selected number of precincts [machines],” Chambless said. “The law requires 5 percent of all of the precincts, which in Clay would be two, but the law says if it’s less than 10 precincts, 10 must be tested.”

The state’s contests for governor, senator and agriculture commissioner were ordered for a recount by Florida Secretary of State Ken Dentzer last Saturday.

In Clay County, Republican candidates earned the majority of votes. In the U.S Senate race, Gov. Rick Scott grabbed 70.12 percent to incumbent Bill Nelson’s 29.59 percent in Clay County. Former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis carried 68.85 percent to Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum’s 30.08 percent in the governor’s race in Clay County. For agriculture commissioner, Matt Caldwell won 71.16 percent of votes against Nicole Fried’s 28.84 percent tally in Clay County.

Statewide, all three races were within less than one percent of each other, the range of votes required for a recount.