By Max Strongman
Opinions Editor

Across the country, this year’s Election Night was riddled with upsets and unknowns. Both parties’ expectations were flattened, each suffering major losses in local, state, and federal races. All things considered, the logistics and repercussions of elections in 2020 have been supremely complex, especially with the unprecedented widespread  use of mail-in-voting. It’s a topic garnering national conversation, some are claiming that mail-in-voting’s supposed novelty (in some states) has made more room for error within the American election system. 

Here in Florida, large scale mail-in-voting has been going on for years, allowing for an efficient vote counting this year. Floridian election officials are used to this type of voting. Nevertheless, with the exponential increase in this type of voting, some tallies have taken longer to count. State Senate District 37—which encompasses Key Biscanye, Downtown, Brickell, and much of South Miami, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, and Cutler Bay—was a close race between incumbent José Javier Rodríguez (D) and Ileana Garcia (R). 

Rodríguez won the seat back in 2016 by just shy of six thousand votes. This year’s election was far tighter, quickly triggering an automatic recount after the candidates were separated by merely 21 votes on election night. Tensions were high as the remaining mail-in-ballots had until Thursday to be verified. 

“It is important for everyone who may have had an issue with their ballot to quickly contact the Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections to complete the cure process,” Christan Ulvert from the Rodríguez campaign said.

The razor-thin margins called for each campaign to subsequently keep nose to the grindstone. Rodríguez needed to bridge the gap, Garcia needed to maintain her lead. Both teams convened to discuss plans going forward, ensuring that all voters (if need be) could get their mail-in-ballots cured. Each vote mattered—that was abundantly clear.

On Monday, November 9th, 2020 the official recount began. The results, having been so narrow, called for a manual recount: a more precise measure only done when the tally is separated by 0.25% or less. 

The lengthy process took around 3 days, official results being decided on thursday November 13th. Per those results, it was decided that Ileana Garcia (R) had won by 34 votes. José Javier Rodríguez conceded shortly after, congratulating Garcia for her unexpected victory—no matter how slim.