Votes are counted in Florida through a staged process that runs from 7:00 p.m. on Election Day until official certification 14 days later. County election offices tabulate ballots first, three-member county canvassing boards verify the totals and resolve questionable ballots, mandatory recounts kick in automatically when margins are tight, and the state’s Elections Canvassing Commission issues the final certification. Every number you see on election night is unofficial, and the count genuinely can shift over the following two weeks.
What Happens on Election Night
Polls run from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, and anyone in line when polls close still gets to vote.1Online Sunshine. Florida Code 100.011 – Hours of Voting Ten counties in the panhandle sit in the Central Time zone, so their polls stay open until 8:00 p.m. Eastern. No statewide count is truly complete until those counties close.
The first results released after 7:00 p.m. usually come from ballots that were already sitting in county offices: early voting ballots and vote-by-mail ballots collected over the preceding weeks. Because that stack is large and pre-processed, it hits the public dashboards fast. Election Day ballots are scanned at the precinct on certified optical-scan equipment, and precinct totals are transmitted to the county Supervisor of Elections as they close out.
Those totals are unofficial. Provisional ballots, late-arriving overseas ballots, cure affidavits, and canvassing board reviews all feed into the count over the days that follow.
Who Verifies the Count
Each county has a County Canvassing Board with three statutory members: the county Supervisor of Elections, a county court judge who chairs the board, and the chair of the county commission.2Florida Senate. Florida Code 102.141 – County Canvassing Board; Duties Any member who is a candidate with opposition, or who is working on a candidate’s campaign, is replaced by an alternate.
The board tests the tabulation equipment before and after Election Day, reviews the machine count, and pulls physical ballots that the scanners flagged. Most flags fall into two categories: undervotes, where no choice was recorded in a race, and overvotes, where more than one choice was marked. Board members look at the actual paper to decide whether the voter made a definite choice the machine missed.3Online Sunshine. Florida Code 101.5614 – Canvass of Returns
How Vote-by-Mail Ballots Are Processed
A completed vote-by-mail ballot has to physically arrive at the Supervisor of Elections’ office by 7:00 p.m. local time on Election Day. Postmarks do not save a late ballot. If it lands even minutes past the deadline, it is not counted.4Florida Department of State. Vote-by-Mail
Before the ballot is opened and tabulated, the supervisor compares the signature on the outer envelope with the signature on file in the voter’s registration record. Political party affiliation cannot factor into that comparison.5Online Sunshine. Florida Code 101.68 – Canvassing of Vote-by-Mail Ballot The canvassing board can reject a ballot for signature problems only by majority vote and only when the mismatch is established beyond a reasonable doubt.
If a signature is missing or does not match, the supervisor has to try to reach the voter as soon as practicable by email, text, or phone and point them to a cure affidavit. To fix the problem, the voter submits Form DS-DE 139 with a copy of qualifying identification. That paperwork must reach the supervisor by 5:00 p.m. on the second day after the election.6Florida Department of State. Form DS-DE 139 – Vote-by-Mail Ballot Cure Affidavit After that, the ballot is gone.
Military and Overseas Voters
There is one meaningful extension. Under federal law and Florida statute, vote-by-mail ballots from military service members and U.S. citizens living abroad can arrive up to 10 days after Election Day and still be counted, provided the ballot was postmarked or dated no later than Election Day itself. The extension applies only to presidential preference primaries, general elections, and special elections; in other elections, overseas voters face the same 7:00 p.m. Election Day deadline as everyone else.7Florida Department of State. Military and Overseas Citizens Voting
How Provisional Ballots Are Resolved
When a voter’s eligibility cannot be confirmed at the polling place, they cast a provisional ballot. Common triggers include a name missing from the precinct register, no acceptable identification, or an unresolved challenge to the registration. The voted ballot goes into a sealed envelope and travels to the Supervisor of Elections for later review.8Florida Senate. Florida Code 101.048 – Provisional Ballots
The voter has until 5:00 p.m. on the second day after the election to bring the supervisor written evidence supporting their eligibility. After that deadline, the canvassing board examines the envelope, the voter’s affirmation, and any supporting information from the supervisor. The board counts the ballot unless it decides, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the voter was not entitled to vote at that precinct or already voted somewhere else. Signature matching still applies; a mismatch can be cured only through the same affidavit-plus-ID process used for mail ballots.
When Recounts Are Automatic
Florida recounts are not requested. They are triggered by margin.
If the difference between candidates in the unofficial results is 0.5% or less of the total votes cast for that office, a machine recount is mandatory. Every ballot in the affected race runs back through the tabulation equipment.2Florida Senate. Florida Code 102.141 – County Canvassing Board; Duties
If the margin is still 0.25% or less after the machine recount, a manual recount follows. The hand count focuses only on the undervotes and overvotes in the affected race. Counting teams of at least two people, drawn from different political parties when possible, review each flagged ballot. Disagreements go to the full canvassing board for a final call.9Florida Senate. Florida Code 102.166 – Manual Recounts of Overvotes and Undervotes
The manual recount is skipped if the number of undervotes and overvotes is mathematically too small to change the outcome, or if the defeated candidate waives it in writing.
Certification by the State
Each County Canvassing Board sends its official returns to the Florida Department of State once all canvassing work, including any recounts, is finished. For a general election, the county returns are due no later than noon on the 13th day after the election.10Florida Election Watch. Florida Election Watch – Timeline A county that misses the deadline can be ignored; the Department of State may certify with whatever is on file.
The state’s Elections Canvassing Commission then takes over. The Commission is the Governor and two Cabinet members chosen by the Governor. For a general election, it meets at 8:00 a.m. on the 14th day after the election and certifies returns for every federal, state, and multicounty office, along with any constitutional amendments.11Florida Senate. Florida Code 102.111 – Elections Canvassing Commission
Audits and Contests After Certification
Once the county certifies, its canvassing board runs a public audit of the voting system. Counties choose between a hand count of one randomly selected race in 1% to 2% of precincts, or an independent automated tally of every race across at least 20% of randomly selected precincts. Audit results are public within seven days of county certification. A county that already conducted a manual recount for the election can skip the audit.12Florida Senate. Florida Code 101.591 – Voting System Audit
State certification does not completely close the door either. An unsuccessful candidate, a qualified voter in the election, or (for referendums) a taxpayer can file a contest in circuit court within 10 days of the final canvassing board certification.13Online Sunshine. Florida Code 102.168 – Contest of Election The grounds are narrow: misconduct or fraud by an election official serious enough to cast doubt on the result, ineligibility of the winning candidate or ballot measure, enough illegal votes counted or legal votes rejected to change the outcome, or bribery involving a voter or election official. Alleging irregularities is not enough on its own. The contestant has to show the problem was severe enough to place the result in genuine doubt.