This is the first part of a three-part diary about my experience as an observer of the Florida Recount 2018 in Broward County, Florida. It was very interesting and I recommend participating in a recount to anyone if you ever have the chance.
Part I of Broward County Recount Diary is written in narrative form, covers only up to the beginning of the first day, and will not get into details of what I saw on the ballots, so if not getting those details right now will bother you, remember, you have been warned. Read at your own risk. Never fear though, there will be two other parts.
I apologize in advance for the lack of interesting photo content.
How I Got There
First of all, thank you to all the people who put links into DKos comments to sign up! Because that’s how I signed up through the Nelson Campaign originally on Monday 11/12, although later it then sort of merged into a Pan-Democratic recount signup page. Once I left my name, email, phone number, and indication of which 4 hours shifts I could do, I waited to be contacted. At that time they had shifts starting as early as Wednesday.
Nick from the Nelson campaign phoned on Tuesday and took my availability times again, anticipating the recount might start Thursday afternoon. He said I’d get an informational email soon and I also needed to sign up for an observer training webinar. Being keen, I signed up for the very first one Wednesday afternoon. 842 people participated in that webinar, for democratic party recount observers statewide, which was an exciting number judging by the demeanor of the webinar presenter.
During that webinar, Nick called with the specifics for me. The new schedule wanted to have people be able to observe all day (7am-6pm) Friday for the Senate race, Saturday for the Ag Commissioner race, and Sunday for the Governor’s race if it made it to hand count. I said I could do Friday and Saturday. I was told I wouldn't be able to bring anything into the counting room like cell phones which I expected or pens, which I did not expect. When I returned to the webinar, I figured I had missed something important and decided to take it again the next morning. Just over 340 people attended that one. That was also exciting to the person presenting that webinar.
Without going into too many details, the training was certainly helpful. It explained the process and it showed examples including two different ballot types: the bubble ballot which is what I’ve always used, and an arrow ballot, where the voter fills in the two parts of a separated arrow to indicate their choice. It went through the typical types of stray marks, the usual conventions for what checks, X’s, underlines, strike-throughs etc. have come to mean, and emphasized that the ideal outcome for us was to have anything put in front of us be a Nelson vote if there is any way that can be argued. The second best outcome is to “object”, and have it put into a bin for the canvassing board to review and rule on. Third best outcome a “no vote”, last, of course, a vote for Rick Scott.
The training went over an additional step known as ‘reporting’ and said people would have an app they could use on their phones, and there is a back-up Google form and of course good old paper, but Broward County did not do it that way. In some ways I’m glad, as it was easier and faster, in other ways I’m sad, as I’m wondering what we might have been able to have learned from that data.
Off To Lauderhill Mall
Friday 11/16, with my camera and phone in a bag, and a mesh bag of snacks and a water bottle, I drove to Lauderhill Mall, location of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office and elections HQ, at about 5:50am. It was still dark and yet things were fairly bustling. We had been told to gather in front of the Subway, and batches of people would be shuttled around to the back. But shortly thereafter, someone offered to lead a group walking if we felt like it, and a lot of us did.
When we got around to the back of the Mall (and it was a short hike), that’s when I saw the first of what I’m going to call The Republican Freak Show. It wasn’t full-on yet as it was still dark, but the Guy With The Trump Cardboard Cut-Out was there, the Bikers for Trump, one tent/awning covered in DeSantis/Nunez signs, a couple of people holding Rick Scott or Trump signs, and a few persons with homemade signs. Oh, and the guy with the inflatable “Brenda’s Ballot Box” (I’ll explain later). These folks were in a designated, lightly cordoned-off Free Speech area. Lauderhill Police and Broward County Sheriff’s officers were there.
We were directed to the sign-in tent and got a sticker designating us as Democrat Observers. If you were a lawyer, you also got a Blue Dot on your sticker or badge.
At the door to the front of the building was another cordon, to separate the parties from each other. When I got there, the gathering of republicans was not as thick on the ground as that of the democrats, although someone said some of them had gone in already. We must have stood out there for an hour or maybe even an hour and a half before things started really moving. Meantime, we struck up conversations with each other, even the Republicans! Both parties had a variety of snacks, water bottles and coffee from Dunkin’ for the volunteers. The atmosphere was an excited calm, just seemed like a bunch of people who knew what they were there for, and we were all OK with it.
That’s also when my camera batteries died. Yes I had my phone, no I can’t explain right now why I can’t upload photos from it to my computer.
Into The Inner Sanctum
They really were not kidding about not letting personal items into the building, so my two small bags got filled w/my electronics, snacks, and I finished my water. Each got labeled with my name and two designated persons had the job of Watching Our Stuff. Wallets and keys were the only things allowed in (other than accommodation devices for the hearing or sight-impaired, I found out later).
After signing in and getting a visitor sticker, I followed the line around and someone took a look at our original sign-in ID for party designation, and gave us another observer sticker (we’re up to three now!). I was Democrat Observer #171.
We continued following the line into the warehouse floor, where 100 tables were set up. Once in that room, in batches of 3 or 4 people at a time, we followed a lead person, who was looking to find tables that did not already have two democratic observers. At that point, the counting was already well underway. I was seated at a table with one democratic observer and one republican observer. About 20 minutes later, another republican observer was seated with us.
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In an effort to keep these diaries somewhat manageable in length, I’ll stop here and begin writing parts II and III. Part II will continue and expand the narrative into the second day of counting, including details about The Republican Freak Show, and Part III will be reflection on the total experience and the best analysis I can muster of what I actually saw on the ballots as they passed by — and what it might mean for Florida’s future.