Miami Dade County met the Sunday 12 p.m. deadline to complete the recount process for both the U.S. Senate seat and the state’s next Agricultural Commissioner, but those supervising the Miami Dade County Elections Department shared mixed reviews.
A clear glass wall separated the recount from volunteer supervisors, a room about the size of a racquetball court with only a handful of chairs.
“I don’t know if I am being paranoid,” said Barbara Grosso who volunteered with the Democratic Party to supervise the recount. “We were told to arrive at a specific time, but when we did, we saw the recount had already begun or had yet to begin. The Republican supervisors had been told to arrive at the correct time each time.”
Those volunteering with the Democratic Party had a schedule with staggered hours in order to always be present. Grosso said she arrived shortly before her assigned time, just to be turned away because the recount was not going to start for another couple of hours. She even asked for a seat to wait, but when none were given to her, she laid on the ground to rest.
The final recount results in Miami-Dade totaled 801,547 votes for U.S. Senate, and 781,139 votes Agricultural Commissioner; sending Governor Rick Scott and Nikki Fried to victory within Florida’s most populous county.
“People here are doing their work very well,” said Jaime Florez, Regional Political Director for Governor Rick Scott, “not only in this manual recount, they [also] did great in the machine recount. It’s a good example for other counties to follow.”
Since the process began, Florez sat in the room just across the recount from start to finish; he said he didn’t have any miscommunication or problem with the county’s elections office.
The state will certify the recount results on Tuesday.
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