Voters waiting to find out who will be the next state representative from the 118th District are going to have to wait a few more days.
An automatic recount was triggered in the race between Democratic candidate Robert Asencio and Republican challenger, former U.S. Rep. David Rivera. Currently, Asencio leads by 68 votes or a tenth of a percentage point.
Rivera and Asencio weer at the elections department Monday as the recount began.
"The most important thing that can happen today is to make sure that all the votes are counted," Rivera said. "We gotta make sure and fight for every voter so that no one is disenfranchised so that we can know the real result of this election."
"I feel very confident, we have a good lead, the voters have spoken and I feel they've elected me, so I'm very confident and thankful of that," Asencio said.
State law requires an automatic recount for any difference that is half of a percentage point or less.
The recount won’t be declared until Friday, when the state gets the official results from Miami-Dade County. A final result of the recount is expected by next Monday or Tuesday according to county elections officials.
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Rivera said there are more than 100 absentee ballots that were rejected by the elections department over issues with the voters' signatures.
The race between Asencio, a former sergeant with Miami-Dade Public Schools, and Rivera has been quite contentious during the election cycle – including Asencio continuing to hammer Rivera over issues during his 2012 re-election race for the U.S. House, which he eventually lost to Joe Garcia.
