With Election Day coming to a close, votes are now being counted for, and the stakes are high. As the ballots were counted, Republicans – who were sure to win –  began to fall behind. One particular race in Florida was too close to call, and a recount was demanded due to the Republican margin being under 0.5.

Democrat Andrew Gillum ran against Republican Ron DeSantis for senate. The votes were accounted for on the night of November 6th, and DeSantis was up by 77,377 votes. In another headliner Florida election, the race for Governor, Republican Rick Scott announced his victory over Democrat Bill Nelson, but it was not confirmed. Scott was ahead by 57,671 votes.

The tables turned the next morning, when the Sunshine State woke up to news that Nelson followed Scott by a 0.42 margin, 34,435 votes. With such a small difference, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered a statewide machine recount over 8.2 million ballots.

Broward and Palm Beach county were the last of the 67 counties to recount and submit their final results. Broward County began their recount on November 11, but it was not a simple feat. Rick Scott filed a lawsuit to “impound and secure” voting machines, devices, and ballots when not in use, and twenty-two votes were found void, but voter fraud was not evident. His request to impound and secure the ballots was rejected by Judge Jack Turner.

In addition to Scott’s interferences, Bill Nelson sued Florida for counting vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked before Election day, but delivered after the poles closed. The supervisor of elections in Bay County admits to violating Rick Scott’s ballot instructions, altering the legitimacy of some of the votes.  

With one day left to complete the recount, Broward County finally begins to process ballots after many technical issues. Democrat Jim Bonfiglio, filed a lawsuit for the recount to be given more time. As of now, Judge Karen Gievers has issued an extension for the recount from November 15th at 3 p.m. to November 20th. A hand recount was also order for some ballots on November 15th.

UPDATE: Democrat Bill Nelson Concedes to Gov. Rick Scott after a contentious recount on Sunday the 18th.