Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., have put together teams of lawyers to fight for votes as their Senate race heads toward a likely recount, the Tampa Bay Times is reporting.
Scott, a Republican, is leading Nelson by just more than one-fourth of a percentage point as both sides scramble to find the needed votes to win.
Now, each side is demanding the names of voters who cast provisional ballots in Tuesday’s election, the newspaper said. Provisional ballots are those cast by voters who did not have identification or showed up at the wrong precinct.
But county election officials said any release of names violated state law.
The deadline for voters who cast provisional ballots to verify their ID and have their votes counted is 5 p.m. Thursday. County canvassing boards will report their first unofficial reports by noon on Saturday, the newspaper said.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner is then expected to order statewide machine recounts in the race. A manual recount will be done if a machine recount shows a candidate leading by one-fourth of a percentage point or less.
The race is likely the closest Senate race in Florida’s history, the newspaper reported.
Marc Elias, an attorney for Nelson, said the senator’s legal team, will “aggressively examine and address reports of irregularities.”
But a spokesman for Scott is convinced the race is over, CNN reported.
“It's a sad way for Bill Nelson to end his career," Chris Hartline said in a statement. "He is desperately trying to hold on to something that no longer exists."
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