Florida's 27th District heads to recount after 1,090-vote margin; Democrat sues to remove elections chief

Florida's 27th Congressional District will go to a recount after a margin of just 1,090 votes (0.44%), state election authorities announced on Saturday 7 November. Democratic challenger Eliott Rodriguez sued in federal court the same day to block Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia from taking part in the recount, saying she had already prejudged the outcome and has a conflict of interest.

A 1,090-vote gap triggers an automatic recount

Republican incumbent Rep. María Elvira Salazar received 124,528 votes (50.22%) to Rodriguez's 123,438 (49.78%), out of 247,966 ballots cast. Under Florida law, a margin under 0.5% triggers an automatic machine recount, followed by a hand recount if the new margin falls within 0.25%. The machine recount must be completed by 3 p.m. on Thursday 12 November, and the state certifies results on 17 November. The Associated Press and major networks have not called the seat.

Candidate says elections chief prejudged the result; her son-in-law is the rival's lawyer

The lawsuit says Garcia told the Miami Herald on election night that Salazar "is the winner, with or without a recount," prejudging the result before any recount. It also notes that Garcia's son-in-law, attorney Robert Fernandez, is representing Salazar in the recount proceedings. The Rodriguez campaign wrote to Garcia on Thursday 5 November asking her to recuse herself from the canvassing board; she refused, and the campaign then sued, arguing her involvement violates his 14th Amendment due process rights.

Garcia sits on the Miami-Dade canvassing board, which decides whether signatures match on provisional and mail ballots and whether voting machines made tabulation errors. As of publication, neither Garcia nor Salazar's camp had responded. The seat's outcome will affect the size of the House majority.

(Photo above: Salazar at a Capitol news conference in May; image source: Heather Diehl / Getty Images.)