FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Sunday, November 18, 2012

Recount Deadline Missed: Murphy claims victory

    Update: Murphy, West Recount - Here's the Law

    Here's the law governing the SOE's failure to meet the deadline, with underscoring and text in bracketing added]. Florida Statutes, Section 102.112 provides:

    102.112 Deadline for submission of county returns to the Department of State.—

    (1) The county canvassing board or a majority thereof shall file the county returns for the election of a federal or state officer with the Department of State immediately after certification of the election results. The returns must contain a certification by the canvassing board that the board has compared the number of persons who voted with the number of ballots counted and that the certification includes all valid votes cast in the election.

    (2) Returns must be filed by 5 p.m. on the 7th day following a primary election and by noon on the 12th day following the general election [November 18, 2012]. However, the Department of State may correct typographical errors, including the transposition of numbers, in any returns submitted to the Department of State pursuant to s. 102.111(2).

    (3) If the returns are not received by the department by the time specified, such returns shall be ignored and the results on file at that time shall be certified by the department.

    (4) If the returns are not received by the department due to an emergency, as defined in s. 101.732, the Elections Canvassing Commission [in Tallahassee] shall determine the deadline by which the returns must be received.

    Id.

    The question to be decided, then, is whether there is an "emergency" within the meaning of Section 102.112(4), a decision to be made by the State Elections Canvassing Commission. "Campaign officials for Patrick Murphy, Democrat candidate for the congressional district 18 race, are calling their candidate the winner because the St. Lucie Canvassing Board has missed the noon deadline to certify results to the state Division of Elections." "Murphy camp declares victory due to missed deadline". See also "Noon passes and no results yet in St. Lucie elections recount".


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