From LA NACION · Bárbara Santana Vázquez · · 1m 50s
Florida recount threshold looms for Díaz-Balart race
Republican Mario Díaz-Balart leads Democrat Nicole Locklin by 1,772 votes in Florida's 26th district, but Saturday's deadline will determine if an automatic machine recount is triggered.
In brief
Republican Mario Díaz-Balart leads Democrat Nicole Locklin by 1,772 votes in Florida's 26th district, but Saturday's deadline will determine if an automatic machine recount is triggered. Mario Díaz-Balart leads Nicole Locklin in Florida's 26th congressional district by 1,772 votes, above the 0.5 percent threshold that…
Díaz-Balart leads by 1,772 votes
Republican Mario Díaz-Balart seeks reelection in Florida's 26th congressional district against Democrat Nicole Locklin. Díaz-Balart has 114,547 votes to Locklin's 112,775 from Tuesday's midterm election.
The margin is 0.77 percentage points
Díaz-Balart leads by 0.77 percentage points, above the 0.5 percent threshold that triggers an automatic machine recount. That threshold equals about 1,148 votes in the district.
Saturday's deadline is decisive
Florida law requires counties to report unofficial election results by noon Eastern Time on Saturday, November 7th. Those figures determine whether a recount is ordered in the district.
Díaz-Balart dominates Miami-Dade
Díaz-Balart leads in Miami-Dade County 72,111 to 46,269. Locklin wins Broward County 66,506 to 42,436. The district spans parts of both counties.
Only the Secretary of State can order a recount
Florida's Secretary of State orders recounts in federal races like the 26th district. Candidates and political committees cannot request one, though a losing candidate can request in writing that no recount occur.
Machine recount due Thursday
The second unofficial report, including any machine recount, is due by 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, November 12th. If the margin is 0.25 percent or less, hand recounts of overvotes and undervotes follow.
Official results due Monday
Counties must deliver official results before noon Eastern Time on Monday, November 16th.A second tight race in the 27th district, where Republican María Elvira Salazar leads Democrat Eliott Rodríguez by 0.
The main idea
Mario Díaz-Balart leads Nicole Locklin in Florida's 26th congressional district by 1,772 votes, above the 0.5 percent threshold that would trigger an automatic machine recount by Saturday.
