Thousands of Ballots Still to be Counted in Clemens-Bernard Recount

The hand recount of all ballots cast in the District 27 State Senate race was going very slowly today, with Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher announcing that only one eighth of the ballots had been counted by about 1 p.m. Boxes containing thousands of ballots were still piled high and waiting to be counted as of 4 p.m.

Boxes of ballots waiting to be counted at the Supervisor of Elections warehouse in Riviera Beach

The hand recount began at 11:30 a.m. today with about 40 employees of the Supervisor of Elections office reviewing each paper ballot, and an observer for each pair from the Jeff Clemens campaign and the Mack Bernard campaign sitting behind them, watching with hawk eyes.

Two employees of the Supervisor of Elections, right, review each ballot by hand, watched carefully by representatives of the Bernard campaign (in glasses) and the Clemens campaign (in tie).

As of Thursday, the official count was 12,150 votes for Jeff Clemens, a former mayor of Lake Worth, and 12,116 votes for Mack Bernard, a former City Commissioner from Delray Beach, a difference of just 34 votes. By the end of yesterday's machine recount, Clemens' lead had dropped to just 29 votes. Both Clemens and Bernard are Democratic State Representatives who threw their hats in the ring for the new District 27 State Senate seat.

Jeff Clemens, right, talks in hushed tones with his associates on Saturday afternoon

The Supervisor of Elections Office told The Lake Worth Sun yesterday (and The Lake Worth Sun reported it) that there would only be a hand recount of the "over" and "under" votes -- the ballots where the machine was unable to determine which candidate the voter intedended to vote for, either because there was some sort of marking in front of both candidates (over vote) or no marking detectable for either (under vote).

However.....Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher told The Sun today a full count of all ballots was being conducted, and that a hand recount of all ballots cast is standard procedure, as machines can make mistakes.

"This ensures that we're viewing publicly the overs and unders," she said.



Ron Meyer, the lawyer for Clemens, talks with Susan Bucher, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

After a lunch break in mid-afternoon, both the Clemens camp and the Bernard camp huddled with their lawyers to review the conditions under which observers may contest a ballot.

Clemens, seated and eating lunch, huddles with his people and their election lawyer, Ron Meyer, to review how and when to contest ballots.

Jeff Clemens was at the warehouse observing the recount most of the afternoon while his opponent, Mack Bernard, was absent. One of his supporters said he was at church and would be by later in the afternoon.


Mack Bernard's lawyer, in grey suit on right, reviews with volunteers under what circumstances to contest ballots

Loretta Sharpe and her son, Brian, both of Lake Worth, were there to observe the count. "He didn't go anything as mayor, and he hasn't done anything as a state representative," Sharpe said of Clemens, explaining why she campaigned for Mack Bernard.


Loretta Sharpe of Lake Worth talks to another Mack Bernard supporter while Jeff Clemens and his associate confer in the background

Jeff Clemens, a one-term mayor of Lake Worth, said he's not placing bets on the outcome of the hand recount, and indicated he thought it could go either way. At 9:30 p.m. on August 14, the day of the primary campaign, Clemens led by 318 votes. By Thursday his lead had dropped to just 34. The total number of votes cast in the race, and the total number being counted by hand today, is 24,266.

All contested ballots are to be reviewed by the Canvassing Board, which was seated in a separate room with glass observation windows. According to an August 16 letter from the state Division of Elections, the election results, including the machine recount and the hand recount, must be certified by Tuesday at 5 p.m.

The Canvassing Board waits to review contested ballots in a separate room