DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - A closely watched South Florida congressional race pitting two former journalists against each other is getting ready for a recount, as one of the candidates is preparing to take legal action against a local election official.
A fraction of a percentage point separates U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, the Republican incumbent, from her Democratic opponent Elliott Rodriguez. At stake is Florida’s District 27.
Friday morning, the Canvassing Board for the Office of the Supervisor of Elections of Miami-Dade County met to certify provisional ballots and signatures on vote-by-mail ballots.
This is the last step in certifying the results in the county, and one step closer to finding out the results of the extremely close race.
In a news conference Wednesday to announce the recount, Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Chief Alina Garcia reassured voters that the process is transparent.
“I just want voters to understand that everything here is transparent, above board,” she said.
Just over 1,100 votes separate Salazar from Rodriguez, a veteran TV anchor. The race will almost certainly go to an automatic recount
“This falls within Florida’s 0.50% threshold for an automatic machine recount,” said Garcia.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd will have to call the recount for this congressional district, but Garcia indicated that everything is being precisely processed.
On Thursday, however, Rodriguez sent a letter where he questioned the supervisor and demanded that she recuse herself from the process.
In a formal demand from Rodriguez’s campaigns lawyer, they accuse Garcia of having a conflict of interest, writing in part:
“According to information provided to our campaign, the lawyer representing Maria Salazar in the recount is Robert Fernandez, Ms. Garcia’s son-in-law.”
Garcia’s daughter also works at the firm and was in the public viewing area watching the process.
JC Planas, the attorney representing Rodriguez’s campaign, spoke with 7News on Friday morning.
“The Canvassing Board is a quasi-judicial proceeding. If the relative of a judge walked into court as one of the attorneys for one of the sides, the judge would immediately recuse themselves,” he said.
Despite this, a spokesman for the elections office said there is no need for Garcia to recuse herself from this race recount.
Rodriguez’s campaign also pointed to comments Garcia made on election night, indicating she has a bias toward his opponent. They wrote:
“Ms. Garcia already announced her winner. On election night, Ms. Garcia announced to The Miami Herald, ‘María Elvira [Salazar] is the winner, with or without a recount.'”
Garcia’s spokesman clarified that the two-step verification process in voting is so precise that a recount rarely changes the outcome.
Upon hearing all this, Salazar released her own statement, saying Rodriguez is “behaving like an election denier” and writing in part:
“My opponent should allow the Canvassing Board and election workers to do their jobs and stop trying to undermine public confidence because he does not like the current results.”
Planas told 7News that Rodriguez’s campaign will seek legal action.
“We will be filing a lawsuit, and this is something that goes well beyond this election,” he said.
As for the recount, it is not scheduled to begin until the beginning of next week at the earliest.
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