From Jackie Barron, Harris party HQ, Sarasota:

Brace yourselves.  So far, a majority of voters in Sarasota County want to go back to the paper ballot system.  That’s right.  Folks here want to try it one more time.

I just came back from Election Headquarters in downtown Sarasota, where the pace is slow because election officials say voters filled out many of the absentee ballots so poorly the machines won’t read them.  The next step requires the canvassing board to review the ballot and decide on the intent of a ballot with marks in multiple spots and then give those ballots to duplicators who basically revote by filling out a new ballot and feeding it back through the machine. The elections office says it had a big stack of those, and that doesn’t count the 40 absentee ballots still on their way from North Port in southern Sarasota County.

Are you tired yet?

Right now I’m sitting in the live truck waiting for Katherine Harris to concede.  Democrat Bill Nelson gave his victory speech more than an hour ago, but Harris—it seems—is holding on.  Still, the mood is pretty light at her party, and that’s mainly because it’s filled with folks making the rounds while they wait to celebrate with Republican District 13 Congressional Candidate Vern Buchanan.  In fact, one of the local Republican Party leaders already described Buchanan’s narrow lead as one sign of some good news.

Rumor mill has it Harris plans to sit down with Larry King in the next 24 hours.

Election Day Photo Gallery

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