Update: Florida Gov’s Race Still In Doubt

November 3, 2010

Despite an unprecedented wave of Republican victories across Florida and the nation, the state’s governor’s race fell into the too-close-to-call category by sunrise Wednesday.

The current tally is not enough to close the gap between the two. Statewide totals with the Division of Elections show Scott with more than a 1 percentage point lead over Sink, a margin of victory that would not trigger a machine recount.

“We look forward to finishing the count, we know we will win and look forward to putting our state back to work,” Scott said. “Nothing in my life has honored me as much as the willingness of Florida voters to put their faith in my plan for Florida.”

Palm Beach County election officials finished tallying up ballots shortly after 4 a.m. Democratic candidate Alex Sink tallied 216,438 votes in the Democratic stronghold compared to 146,786 votes recorded for Republican challenger Rick Scott.

Late additions to the troubled Palm Beach numbers added about 12,690 votes to Sink’s earlier tally but she remained about 60,000 votes behind Scott, more than double the number, about 26,500, that would trigger a recount. Palm Beach again became the focus of election night drama when returns were delayed with little explanation for Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.

“This is turning out, as we suspected, to be a nailbiter, a classic Florida election,” Sink said. “We’re coming down to the wire in what looks to be a dead even race.

Scott, who was sequestered with his family on an upper floor of a Fort Lauderdale waterside hotel, made no public statements. But a crowd of several hundred listened to live music, enjoyed an open bar and steamships of beef as they awaited what most expected to be Scott joining U.S. Sen.-elect Marco Rubio and three Republican Cabinet victors in the winner’s circle.

Scott spent more than $70 million of his own money on the race, only to see it go to Election Day as a toss-up.

With a pick-up of two state Senate seats and five Democratic House incumbents appearing headed toward defeat, Republicans also looked like they’d secured veto-proof, two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers.

But the governor’s race remained perhaps the night’s biggest prize – still in doubt.

Dave Beattie, a Sink advisor, said of the remaining votes, “the biggest chunks are in Democratic places, and the more outstanding there is, the better there is.”

Heading into the election, polls showed the race tied, and Tuesday’s balloting seemed to only affirm the deadlock. Sink won by a wide margin in Democratic-rich Broward County, was carrying Miami-Dade County with most of the vote in, and narrowly won her home Hillsborough County, where she had campaigned hard for a potentially larger margin.

Scott ran strong across the Panhandle, the Jacksonville area and across most of Central Florida, although Sink carried Orange County by a wide margin.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive