Canvassing board asked to make sure military provisional ballots weren't left uncounted by error

The Duval County Supervisor of Elections says more than 20,000 ballots an hour are being re-counted for three major races.

They were able to move quickly despite dealing machine malfunctions. The supervisor of elections, Mike Hogan, said the issue was a cable that needed to be replaced.

Stack after stack of paper ballots were fed through the machines.

One group prepared the ballots and the other was tasked with feeding them through the fast counting machine.

Hogan said they’re moving at a good pace.

“After we’re through with our work we’re going to take a recess and make sure that we’ve done everything, we’re not just going to send our results to Tallahassee,” said Hogan.

The machine recount results aren’t due until 3 p.m. Thursday.

If the margins remain as tight as they are now, it’s likely the secretary of state will call for a manual recount.

Tuesday, democratic voter protection attorney Lara Nezami challenged the provisional ballot processing procedure.

She alleges some deployed military members who voted provisionally may have not had their votes counted due to being considered late registrations.

“They’re given an extended registration deadline which is 5 p.m. the Friday before election day,” said Nezami.

She’s now asking the canvassing board to go back and check if any were missed by error.

“At least for those that did file a provisional ballot their vote should at least count and then something can be corrected moving forward,” said Nezami.

Hogan said they already checked.

He said even if they finish the recount early they’re going back to double check their work.

“There is a requirement for speed simply because there’s a deadline but the most important thing is accuracy,” said Hogan.

Cox Media Group