"We Are Going To Ensure Every Vote Is Counted', Florida Ag Commissioner Race Heads To Recount

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The race to be the state's next Agriculture commissioner is too close to call and is headed for a recount.

The state elections website had Caldwell with 50.08 percent of the vote to 49.92 percent for Nikki Fried, they were separated by 12,521 votes, or 0.16 percent, according to Fried's campaign.

More votes are still being counted.

"This is the closest race since we've seen here in Florida since Bush v. Gore in 2000—we're heading into a recount," stated Nikki Fried. "We are going to ensure that every vote is counted, in a race this close, everyone's' voices must be heard so the will of the people is upheld."

"This race is too close to call, and there are still thousands of votes to be counted. Democrats will take every step to ensure that every single ballot is counted and we will be pursuing a recount in Nikki Fried's election for the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs," said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Penalosa in a statement.

State law requires a mechanical recount when candidates are within one-half point and a manual recount at .25 or less.

In this case, the state's 67 supervisors of elections would have to recount the all the ballots - more than eight million across the state.

A statewide recount was held for the infamous 2000 election. In that case, though, the recount was only of undervotes - votes were the ballot indicated someone didn't vote.

This is not the only recount.

The US Senate race between Rick Scott and incumbent Bill Nelson is also too close to call.

Unofficial results show Nelson narrowly trailing Scott by a little more than just 34,500 votes out of a total of 8.1 million ballots cast, according to the Senator's office. That's less than a one-half percentage point difference.