SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – The Seminole County supervisor of elections started recounting ballots Sunday morning in three major statewide races and one local race.
Elections staff ran each ballot through a vote tabulation machine. The public is invited to watch the process from behind glass windows as staff makes sure every vote is counted.
Seminole County is not the only Central Florida county that began recounts Sunday. Other local supervisors of elections were preparing for the recount on Friday and either began the machine recount process Sunday or will begin on Monday.
Brian Holmes, a concerned citizen, said he wanted to witness the democratic process.
"The most important thing is to get it right and to be honest about it and to make sure everybody gets their vote in," Holmes said.
Holmes joined other concerned citizens, along with representatives of the candidates in the recount, and watched the process with a close eye.
He said each vote could make the difference in the tight races for Florida governor, U.S. Senate, and Florida agriculture commissioner, as well as the race for Seminole County Commission District 2.
"Pretty amazing how close that is. That just shows you how every vote does count and Americans should exercise this freedom, the right that we have as Americans," Holmes said.
In the first few hours of the day, Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Michael Ertel said staff recounted the votes from eight of the county's 80 precincts. He showed News 6 the recounted ballots sealed in large blue bins.
"That is the ballots we've already recounted. We're sealing them," Ertel said.
Staff will recount the ballots cast at the remaining precincts on Election Day, as well as early voting and mail-in ballots. Ertel said staff will work every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and he hopes to finish the recount by Tuesday.
While News 6 was at the elections office, we watched as the Seminole County canvassing board reviewed a ballot that the machine could not read. The candidates' representatives paid close attention as the board duplicated the ballot.
"This is not a new vote. This is just a duplication of this individual page so that this page will be able to be read through the machine," Ertel said.
Gov. Rick Scott's campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed a lawsuit late Thursday demanding that Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes be ordered to turn over several records detailing the counting and collection of ballots cast in Tuesday's election.
Scott claims tens of thousands of ballots were being discovered in Broward County, and he said Snipes doesn't have an accurate count of how many ballots were actually cast.
“If Rick Scott wanted to make sure every legal ballot is counted, he would not be suing to try and stop voters from having their legal ballot counted as intended," Sen. Bill Nelson said in a statement. "He's doing this for the same reason he's been making false and panicked claims about voter fraud -- he's worried that when all the votes are counted he'll lose this election. We will not allow him to undermine the democratic process and will use every legal tool available to protect the rights of Florida voters.”
It is a timely and painstaking process, but one that many believe must be done.
"The democracy of the United States depends on us getting this right," Holmes said.