Rodriguez calls for elections supervisor to recuse herself from potential District 27 recount – NBC 6 South Florida
Two days after election night, one of South Florida’s closest congressional races is still too close to call. And now, one of the candidates is calling out the supervisor of elections.
The campaign of Elliot Rodriguez, a candidate for District 27, is demanding that Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia recuse herself from the canvassing board, claiming she has several conflicts, including that her son-in-law, a lawyer, is representing his opponent, Maria Elvira Salazar, in the recount matter.
“The campaign has formally requested immediate confirmation of this reported family relationship and Fernandez’s role in the recount,” Rodriguez’s campaign said in a statement released Thursday. “If confirmed, the relationship would raise additional serious concerns about Garcia participating in decisions affecting a candidate represented by a close family member.”
Juan Mendieta, the deputy supervisor of elections, told NBC6 that Garcia will not recuse herself.
“My opponent is behaving like an election denier, attempting to turn this process into a political circus because he does not like the election outcome,” Salazar said in a statement posted on her social media on Thursday evening.
The margin of the District 27 race stands at 0.46%, Garcia has said, which falls within Florida’s 0.5% automatic recount threshold. In raw numbers, about 1,100 votes separate the two candidates.
On Friday morning, the Miami-Dade County canvassing board will start the process of certifying election results.
“There are still ballots to be reviewed before the process is complete; specifically, 202 vote-by-mail ballots in congressional district 27 are undergoing the curing process,” Garcia said earlier this week.
Salazar already claimed victory, but no official winner has been decided yet.
Rodriguez’s campaign said in its statement that a recount is not a controversy; it is the law working exactly as it was written.
