MIAMI — Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott declared health care executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick the “apparent winner” of the Democratic primary to replace U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings after a review of overseas and military ballots on Friday, giving the one-time political long-shot who mounted two previous ill-fated campaigns a likely spot in Congress.
The only new vote that affected the razor-thin race between Cherfilus-McCormick and Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness on Friday was a ballot Cherfilus-McCormick earlier tried to have tossed out in court.
Naturally, once the ballot was opened, the vote was for Cherfilus-McCormick.
Cherfilus-McCormick expanded her lead over Holness to six votes after the Broward County Canvassing Board considered 16 potential overseas and military ballots that arrived ahead of Friday afternoon’s deadline.
Ultimately, the board accepted five of the 16 ballots. None of the votes went to Cherfilus-McCormick or Holness.
“I am proud to be recognized tonight finally as the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 20th Congressional District following Alcee Hastings’ legacy of fighting for the rights and welfare of the common person,” Cherfilus-McCormick tweeted shortly after Scott said she was the apparent winner. “This an enormous honor to carry.”
Palm Beach County’s vote total was unchanged on Friday after no overseas or military ballots were presented to the county’s canvassing board.
Cherfilus-McCormick ended last week’s machine and hand recounts with a five-vote lead over Holness, a Broward County commissioner. There were slightly more than 49,000 votes cast in the election for 11 candidates. Cherfilus-McCormick had 11,663 votes to Holness’ 11,657 votes before Friday’s overseas and military ballots were counted.
The ballots that were counted on Friday were not cast after the primary on Nov. 2, but Florida law requires counties to accept ballots from overseas and military voters that arrive late if they were postmarked by the election date. Palm Beach County said on Friday that no overseas or military ballots arrived ahead of the deadline, so its vote count was unchanged.
On Thursday, Cherfilus-McCormick filed a lawsuit against Holness and the Broward County Canvassing Board after it accepted three vote-by-mail ballots where the signatures on the ballot envelope did not appear to match the signatures on file with the supervisor of elections. The Canvassing Board voted 2-1 during its Nov. 5 meeting to accept three ballots out of six that had previously been rejected because of signature issues. The board said that a follow-up telephone call with a voter who sent in one of the disputed ballots confirmed the the voter’s intentions to cast a ballot in the primary election.
The three ballots were set aside during last week’s recount and were scheduled to be counted on Friday. On Friday morning, Cherfilus-McCormick lost her case against Holness and the Canvassing Board, though the judge ruled that the three ballots in question should be separated from the rest in case Cherfilus-McCormick wants to file future litigation.
Cherfilus-McCormick ultimately benefited in spite of her litigation.
Cherfilus-McCormick, barring a successful legal challenge from Holness, is almost certain to get elected to Congress after a Jan. 11 general election in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which contains majority Black portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties. Cherfilus-McCormick will face a slate of minor candidates, and Republican nominee Jason Mariner’s candidacy is in limbo after he did not go through the state’s process to restore his civil rights after imprisonment.
Cherfilus-McCormick could face voters again in as little as nine months, with the 2022 Democratic primary scheduled for August.
Holness built a large lead among voters in Broward County, which accounts for about 75% of the district’s voters. But Cherfilus-McCormick won Palm Beach County and performed better in Broward County than Holness did in Palm Beach, which led to the race’s virtual tie.
