Collier County set to begin machine recount

In Southwest Florida, ballot recounts by machines will begin as early as tomorrow. The Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office and the operations building, where votes will be tabulated for the recount, are separate from each other. WINK News got to look behind the scenes.

Ballots are kept in locked cages on the second floor of the department building and brought down section-by-section. There is another room with more machines in case any of them malfunction, and the building is prepared with a backup generator in case there is a power outage.

Collier County Supervisor of Election Jennifer Edwards said they will have a meeting at 8 a.m. Monday morning to begin logic and accuracy testing, which is to run the machines to make sure they are working properly before they begin the official recount.

“Everything we do is transparent,” Edwards said. “And we encourage the public to come to the 8 a.m. meeting here on Enterprise Avenue and then we’ll be doing after that meeting, we will begin the actual recount.”

Edwards said the recount will continue to be open to the public during the entire process each day 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until the second unofficial results are due Thursday, Nov. 15.