it's now time for the weekly with new
six morning anchor Justin Morman
this is the weekly on click Orlando comm
with Justin warmoth good morning I'm
Justin warmest well another election and
once again another spotlight on Florida
as two statewide races go to a manual
recount the last week and a half filled
with lawsuits new verbage and new
lessons that will hopefully learn from
earlier this week got a chance to visit
the Osceola County Supervisor of
Elections Office to ask about those
lessons and to learn more about how the
recount process works all right we were
inside the Osceola County Supervisor of
Elections Office I'm with Mary Jane
Arrington the Supervisor of Elections in
Osceola County when you took this job is
this what you expect all these recounts
well I expected recounts but not three
statewide recount at the same time this
is monumental it's never happened before
in the state of Florida as we've seen
some of the things going on around the
state some counties a little bit more
smooth than other counties how have
things gone here in Osceola they've gone
really smooth we are a county that had a
two page ballot not very many in the
state had that so our process was longer
but we completed it Wednesday afternoon
at 5 o'clock it's good to hear right now
this room as you see is empty we're
taping this on Thursday morning so
before all the manual recounts starts so
you can see it's empty this will change
though this room will will get crowded
crowded inside there will be crowded as
well tell us about what that process
will be like well once the state tells
us that a manual recount is required we
wait for that order then we will have
counting teams up and we will have two
rows of them and the counting team will
be two people of different parties and
then behind them will be representatives
of the candidates and the political
parties so behind each counting team of
two there will be four people standing
over their shoulders watching the
decisions they make ultimate decision
will be made by who the canvassing board
the canvassing board sets at the front
of the room it's
made up of a county commissioner or a
county commissioner representative
county judge and the Supervisor of
Elections we also have support staff to
help us such as attorneys right and so
when you when you plan out everything is
this something that you guys planned
this having these teams and having
everything ready to go and knowing where
your workers should be when something
like this could happen it has happened
is this something you guys planned for
we plan for it we talk about it we joke
about in case there's a recount we need
to be on call and so now we have put
that to the test the problem is that as
we have learned that the deadlines are
not in stone they're in flux and so
people are waiting we're on call just
like we're expecting a baby we're
waiting for the call what are these
shifts like for for you guys is it at 12
hours I mean we have been working 12 to
14 or 15 hours a day to get this
accomplished I've heard other counties
have worked longer but it is it is a
monumental task to recount every vote in
a County within a short time period
because there first off you want to be
as precise as you can 100% accurate and
you have to get through so many ballots
as well and so that process I'm sure it
takes a long time you know a lot of
people have their comparisons I know
it's apples to oranges really from from
2000 right and that and that whole
fiasco
now that we're in 2018 and as you look
ahead to 2020 do you think that law
needs to be changed
to make everything a little bit more
uniform well I think the hardest part
has been the time frame because larger
counties have a lot more ballots to run
than small rural counties you know they
may have three to eight nine ten
thousand voters where in the South
Florida counties they have over a
million million-and-a-half voters in
Osceola County we have 220,000 voters
and it took us with our equipment
starting on friday to wednesday working
everyday 12 to 15 hours to complete the
task and that's really hard to ask
people to do for that longer time no
doubt and that was the machinery cap
that was machinery
and talking about a manual recount at
this point and again we don't we've
never done this in this magnitude so we
have no idea how long it's going to take
it you mentioned a little bit earlier
that that these machines were the same
ones used in in Orange County Orange
County uses these a lot of counties
about half of the counties throughout
the state use the same system we use
okay but they don't have they're not
they don't aren't fortunate enough to
have high-speed scatters okay
and these high-speed scanners Broward
has Orange has it this is the most
popular yet it's the newest newest model
and we are fortunate in our County that
our County Commission has funded us so
we can get the most technology friendly
equipment any issues to know we had none
that's good to hear and yes again they
were running 12 to 14 hours a day okay
so the so but it is fast they go to be
really fast very fast you you put it
through right you put one side through
and then does that excite it so it
counts the ballots and it also sorts the
ballot it counts the ballots and then in
the next bin above it it puts what we
call unders and over votes votes where
it doesn't read anything for that race
or it reads more than one right mark for
that race and those will are the ones
that we're going to be looking at when
we start the manual recount a lot
there's been a lot of talk about the
under vote the over vote and and you
just explained it the which one do we
see more of we see more of the under
vote people choose not to vote in that
race maybe they're not interested in
that race or they they don't have a
clear decision on who they want to vote
for so we will see way more under votes
than we do over votes but there also can
be valid votes in those under votes
interesting because a lot of a lot of
people say that yes you mentioned it you
know they don't want to vote for that
for that particular race but do you
think that under vote could be that they
didn't see it on the ballot as they as
they were voting and and how do you use
that discrepancy and does that even
matter and
in the long-term I mean we have no way
of telling if a candidate wanted to skip
it but sometimes you know people
overlook things they're in a hurry
that's why we always encourage voters to
take their sample ballot to the polls
they've had time to mark and they can
just transfer those those marks from one
to the other and we've also heard a lot
of talk about provisional ballots and
and things of that nature the signatures
and anything like that provisional
ballots did you guys have quite a few of
those we did for our size County the
number one reason we have a provisional
ballot is because a voter forgets to
bring their photo and signature ID to
the polls and so what we do is have a
voter vote a provisional ballot and then
we bring it back to the office and match
their signature on the provisional
ballot with what we have on file of all
the ones we had which it was more than
half that were for know not the correct
photo and signature ID all of their
signatures matched and coming up we'll
have more from my interview with Osceola
County Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane
Arrington as well as a trip down memory
lane Michael felt sits down with the
former state Supreme Court Chief Justice
who presided over the cases involving
the 2000 presidential election recount
keep it here the weekly on click Orlando
dot-com with Justin warmoth welcome back
my conversation continues this morning
with Osceola County Supervisor of
Elections Mary Jane Arrington since the
day after the election she and her staff
have been working 12 to 15 hour days
recounting the 100,000 plus ballots cast
in Osceola and this year's midterm
election other than the recounts what
are the differences from this election
to 2016 well we had the largest turnout
in Osceola County for a midterm election
that we've had since 94 Wow and so that
was just really surprising to us we
thought mm it was around 50% but we were
50s almost 54% so we were pleased
Osceola County a real transient County
we
younger population and those tend to be
people that don't go to vote as often
but we were really pleased with the
turnout mail ballot was our number one
way of voting really so we're seeing a
change more voters really like voting by
mail so vote so vote by mail out did
people going to the polls on November 6
and voting early and voting early voting
early and going to the polls we're
almost the numbers were almost exact but
about 45 percent of our voters voted by
mail is that the way in the future I
think so I think people like to vote
when they're ready their time takes
their time do research on their on the
internet all about candidates and issues
I think as I tell people you can phone a
friend say I don't know any of these
candidates can you help me out do you
know any of them you just can't get a
sticker yes yes well you can send a
sticker and you okay well there you go
it's not that bad yeah oh by mail you
get the sticker and that's what everyone
wants it fly the vote by mail and when
you people go to the elections another
difference is that I think the other
than them being able to do their own
research at home as they vote by mail
is there an added pressure when they get
in there and they want to be timely with
everything and then maybe they rush
through it and that could be a factor in
my under vote I think it could be
because they may look over their
shoulder and see that there are there's
a line of people outside and it's not
that it takes us a long time to process
a voter to vote its voters in the booth
voting and when you have a lot of
amendments like we had this time it
really takes voters a lot longer to vote
as we continue to move through this
process and I know we want to get this
process done first let's check that off
the off the list first but as you look
forward to 2020 and you see the
experiences that that you've had here
how will that make you guys do your jobs
better or more aware of what the
potential could be if those margins are
again that close
well we elections we always say we don't
care who wins as long as they win big
and we've had put that to the test this
time unfortunately you're a supervisor
of elections in
Florida right I don't know if everything
anyone will win big in a statewide alert
yeah so we're at work it's a they're
competitive jobs we're an important
state because no one knows we're a swing
state the largest swing state so but
we're prepared for this we just didn't
expect it this magnitude in 2020 as as
more and more people will be watching
because I know the midterms were very
important but if it's not a presidential
election and you have this black eye if
you will over Florida Florida it's not
Osceola County you guys have done a
great job but just Florida in general
everyone looks to Florida as Florida
right do you think that because of that
added pressure that this possibly if
those margins are again razor close
could happen again as far as everything
that's kind of transpired specifically
down in South Florida well I definitely
think it could happen again
yeah I think this magnitude three races
three state races probably not likely
but it but it could and we are we are
always prepared we have procedures we
review those procedures we talked about
it before an election what if this
happens and how we're going to handle it
and so I think most supervisors
throughout the state do an excellent job
and they they're prepared this is
elections is not an exact science
right we're dealing with people on both
sides and people do different things so
we just have to be prepared and that's
that's what it is what do you tell your
staff and what will you tell your staff
before the manual recount gets underway
what would be your message to them well
we have to be sure that we're fair and
transparent and we can't let the people
that are going to be here influence how
we do our job do you think that could
happen I think my staff is prepared
they're talking about it all week we're
going to run through it later today
about how we're going to handle it and
they have to understand that there's
going to be lots of questions and
they're not questioning them they're
just questioning the process so they
will understand so we we had a lot of
these dates that
that people have been talking about
everything is such a it's such a fluid
situation and things could happen it
could go past Thanksgiving holiday first
off you guys will be closed we will be
closed on Thanksgiving your workers will
be enjoying Thanksgiving through
families what do you expect to see and
this process could it could it
eventually dip into December do you
think well there are a lot of lawsuits
out there flying around and it depends
totally on the courts and what they
decide and it's possible I hope not but
it could as we as we get through that
process and folks at home are wondering
and waiting to see the official results
come down you have a message for them as
they continue to wait and see this
process play out it is fair it is
transparent it is also a learning
process we will learn a lot from this
process and be able to do what we do
better in the future
and while this election has revealed
some flaws it pales in comparison to
what we learned during the 2000
presidential election investigator
Michael felt sat down with the former
justice at the center of it all so Bush
vs. gore will never happen again well
would former state Supreme Court justice
Charles T Wells offers a legal
perspective on Florida election recounts
like few others can the margin of error
in the count was always going to be
greater than the margin of victory and
that we had to move on as Chief Justice
Wells presided over the legendary 2000
presidential election recount cases Bush
versus gore 18 years ago it was about
the accuracy of punch card ballots not
total vote percentages those ballots
were used in more than 20 Florida
counties that's what gave rise to what
was known as a hanging Chad and that
caused the ballot not to be able to be
counted by the vote counting machine
as he recalls in his book inside Bush
versus Gore Wells reminds us Republican
George W Bush was eventually declared
the winner after the US Supreme Court
reversed the Florida court's ruling for
a statewide recount and was that the
right decision it was in my judgment it
was the right decision it's just hard to
believe we're here tonight now nearly
two decades later Florida is back in the
recount spotlight the punch card ballots
outlawed in 2002 replaced by a
statistical standard a margin of less
than 0.5 o % triggers an automatic
recount your assessment of the protocol
they put into place is it a good
safeguard I think it is yes do you think
what's in place now is foolproof or will
it need a test when you go back and
start reviewing and examining what
happened on Election Day new issues are
likely to arise just like any other
procedure you never know until its
stress test you've got to have a stress
test and right now it looks like we're
about to have a stress test and my
thanks to both Mike and Osceola County
Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane
Arrington for that perspective for the
latest on results 2018 just headed click
Orlando com / weekly I'm Justin warmoth
have a great Sunday