District 4 Commission Race
Hofberger still leads Vinson by three votes after 655 mail ballots were counted overnight, and the Supervisor of Elections says the race won’t be settled until the ten-day ballots are processed.
Incumbent Republican Ashlee Hofberger still leads NPA challenger Joe Vinson by three votes in the Escambia County Commission District 4 race, and Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender expects a machine recount on Saturday.
In an interview Wednesday morning, Bender said his office processed 655 vote-by-mail ballots after the Election Day results came in. Vinson netted eight votes from that batch, and Hofberger’s three-vote lead held.
“I don’t think it’ll be settled until the ten-day ballots are actually processed.”
—Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender
What’s Still Outstanding
- Provisional ballots (a little over 200): Bender said his office is working from what the clerks entered into the system and usually finds a few more.
- Cure ballots (about 430): These are ballots with signature problems. Voters have until 5 p.m. Thursday to submit a cure affidavit.
- Ten-day ballots (typically 50 to 100): These arrive after Election Day and would come in after any recount.
- Write-in absentee ballots (20): The office must hold these until the ten-day period ends to see whether a completed mailed ballot also arrives.
Provisional Ballots
Why they exist: Bender said a ballot is only provisional “if something’s not right.” A voter without a photo ID typically gets a provisional ballot, and the office usually accepts it if the signature matches.
- Where the odds are poor: Voters who were not registered are a different story. Bender said there is usually nothing that can be done with those.
Cure Ballots
The process: Staff will start reviewing signatures at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The county canvassing board makes the final decision on whether to accept a ballot.
- The catch: Bender said his office can’t make a final determination until after the 5 p.m. Thursday cure deadline. Cures that arrived Tuesday night haven’t been counted yet. He said they won’t be counted until Thursday after 3 p.m. Ballots without a cure will be rejected.
The Recount
Timeline: Bender said he expects a recount Saturday, and his office will prepare Saturday morning. He cautioned that the result could shift again after the recount, because the ten-day ballots will arrive afterward.
- Complication: The recount covers only District 4 precincts. Bender said some voters may have gone to the wrong polling place, such as Bellevue, or live outside District 4 but vote at Asbury. His staff must weed out those ballots before the machine recount can begin.
Florida recount rules: A margin of 0.5% or less triggers a machine recount. If the margin is 0.25% or less after that, a manual recount of overvotes and undervotes follows.
Current margin: Hofberger 13,020, Vinson 13,017 in the unofficial results I reported Wednesday morning.
Stay with ricksblog.biz for updates as the canvassing board reviews cure ballots, and the recount gets underway.