LAUDERHILL, Fla. – A recount was underway on Friday for the Democratic Special Primary Election for U.S. House District 20, which encompasses both Broward and Palm Beach counties, after the race was too close to call.
By 4:30 p.m., the counties completed their manual recounts in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
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As of Friday evening, healthcare executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was ahead of Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness by five votes.
The machine recount in Broward County began at 8:30 a.m., and went on until about about 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Then, the hand recount began soon after.
By 5 p.m., Cherfilus-McCormick was up by three votes — 11,660 versus Holness’ 11,657 votes.
However, no final result is expected until next Friday, when military and overseas ballots will be counted, as well. Four overseas and military ballots remain to be counted, as well as two vote-by-mail ballots that had been accepted as valid.
On Thursday evening, canvassing boards in both Broward and Palm Beach counties began the process of the recount in the District 20 Democratic congressional primary that was separated by just nine votes after Tuesday’s election.
Holness (who had 11,644 votes) held a narrow lead over healthcare executive Cherfilus-McCormick (who had 11,635) for the Democratic nomination in a special election to replace the late Alcee Hastings.
Jason Mariner won the nomination on the Republican side, but the district is deeply Democratic and likely to vote that way in the January general election.
This story will be updated as more information is made available.