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No Hanging Chads This Time, But Florida Readying Another Recount

No Hanging Chads This Time, But Florida Readying Another Recount

(Bloomberg) -- Floridians are facing the prospect of a recount in several of Tuesday’s key political battles. At least one top Republican is already casting doubt on the process.

In a series of tweets, GOP Senator Marco Rubio -- who was not on the ballot -- said lawyers for the Democrats “are here to change the results of the election," not ensure transparency. And he said the process opens the door for Democrats to “steal a seat in the U.S. Senate & Florida Cabinet."

Florida recounts the votes if the margin of victory is 0.5 percent or less. At last count, three races appeared to meet that threshold: the Senate race between incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Rick Scott; the governor’s race between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis; and the state agriculture commissioner race between Democrat Nikki Fried and Republican Matt Caldwell.

Any recount would be the state’s first since 2000, when the 35-day saga in the presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore persuaded Florida to ditch the paper punch-card ballots of hanging chad fame.

In the governor’s race, the Gillum campaign -- which conceded the race on Tuesday -- issued a statement Thursday saying that new information may change matters and it was bracing for a possible recount. And the Miami Herald reported that Florida’s Secretary of State Ken Detzner had told county election officials to plan for possibly three highly publicized recounts.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Levin in Miami at jlevin20@bloomberg.net;Nathan Crooks in Miami at ncrooks@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net

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