TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's election results will be certified Tuesday, two weeks after close races for governor, U.S. Senate and a Cabinet position set up an unprecedented three statewide recounts.
The Elections Canvassing Commission will meet at 9 a.m. to certify the results of the Nov. 6 election, after two weeks of contention and finger pointing.
Official results turned in Sunday showed Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis had a winning margin of 32,463 votes out of more than more than 8 million cast.
Republican Gov. Rick Scott led Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson by 10,033 votes.
The closest race was for the Cabinet position of agriculture commissioner. Democrat Nikki Fried led Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell by 6,753 votes.
All three of the trailing candidates have conceded the races.
Results will be presented to the commission by Secretary of State Ken Detzner in what's typically a short ceremony void of fanfare. After the 2014 election, the meeting lasted a mere three minutes and was held in a nearly empty Cabinet room.
By law, the commission is made up of the governor and two of the three Cabinet members. But Scott said during the middle of the recount with Nelson that he won't participate in the certification. Instead Republican Sen. Rob Bradley will serve along with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who lost the Republican primary for governor to DeSantis.
In 2014, Scott and all three Cabinet members declined to serve because each was on the ballot.
The recounts were reminiscent of the 2000 presidential election, when Florida took more than five weeks to declare George W. Bush the victor over Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes. Florida became the laughing stock of the world during the chaotic recount that decided the presidency.
Florida again was under scrutiny, especially as elections officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties struggled to count the vote. Scott and President Donald Trump suggested there was fraud in the largely Democratic counties, and several lawsuits were filed during the process.
Lawmakers have said they will look at election laws during the 2019 legislative session to avoid future problems.