2018 Florida Election Hand Recounts, St. Johns County Style

With grace, class, comity and courtesy, the St. Johns County Canvassing Board met today and conducted hand recounts in two close races for United States Senate and Florida Secretary of Agriculture and Consumer Services races.  

Several dozen additional votes were detected based upon Florida's legal standards for divining voter intent.   

Some voters voted for more than one candidate in a race, requiring rejections of their "overvotes."

But some voters' intent was clear in undervotes that were not counted by high speed machinery.

This added votes to candidate totals, as when voters used pencil instead of pen (unreadable by mechanical equipment), or when they circled, checked or otherwise showed who they chose.

Only a few voters wrote in frivolous names (Mickey and Minny Mouse, Bozo, and Canadian Jeapordy host Alex Trebeck) as write-ins for Senator.  Mr. & Mrs. Mouse, Bozo, Mr. Trebeck, et al, were not qualified write-ins and thus were not counted.   (And Mr. Trebeck is apparently a Canadian, as Mr. Brown noted).

There was an audience, there were objections for the record, and there was democracy in action.  

What a beautiful sight.  

Our American Founders would be proud of the Canvassing Board and staff, and so am I.

We're counting every vote.   

That's what we Americans do.  

We're ignoring President DONALD JOHN TRUMP's indecent dictatorial dicta and demented demands to the contrary, joined in by Governor RICHARD LYNN SCOTT,  a TRUMP toady.  

Overseas (mostly military) ballots will be counted tomorrow, November 17, 2018 at 3:30 pm.  The Sunday deadline will be met with room to spare.

Thanks to our St. Johns County Canvassing Board chair, St. Johns County Court Judge Charles Jay Tinlin, Canvassing Board member Ronald Wayne Brown, and Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes and to our party and candidate representatives and volunteers, for doing their jobs efficiently, sensitively, without fear or favor.