Vol. II, No. 171 From Our Region to Yours
Politics

Judge Rules Miami-Dade Elections Chief's Recount Prediction 'Really Dumb,' Lets Her Run the Recount

A federal judge called Alina Garcia's "winner, with or without a recount" remark "a really dumb statement to make, even in part." Then he left her on the canvassing board, and the machines started an hour later.

By 2 min read

A tall federal courthouse in downtown Miami, its dark glass facade framed by pale stone towers and a curved glass roofline, raised on square columns above a row of palm trees. "United States Courthouse" is carved in the stone above the entrance. A gray high-rise stands to the right under a hazy sky.
The federal courthouse in downtown Miami, where a judge on Monday found a recount prediction dumb but not disqualifying. Photo: Miami92 at English Wikipedia / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

MIAMI — A federal judge reviewed what Miami-Dade’s elections chief said about the recount. He did not care for it. She is running the recount anyway.

U.S. District Judge David S. Leibowitz on Monday denied Democrat Eliott Rodriguez’s motion to remove Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia from the recount, Local 10 News reported. The race is Florida’s 27th District.

The remark at issue came from the Miami Herald. Garcia said Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar “is the winner, with or without a recount.” She also called a Rodriguez win “possible, but not probable.”

“This is a really dumb statement to make, even in part,” Leibowitz said during the hearing, according to Local 10. He also called it “stupid.”

He then ruled the evidence was not enough to take Garcia off the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board, Local 10 reported.

The other half of the sentence

The judge noted that Garcia had corrected herself in the latter half of her statement, CBS Miami reported. That half was the “possible, but not probable” part.

So the record now reads as follows. The outcome is known. The outcome is also not known. A federal court has reviewed the first half, found it dumb, and given her credit for the second.

The Rodriguez campaign had also pointed out that Salazar’s recount attorney, Robert Fernandez, is Garcia’s son-in-law, Local 10 reported. Garcia has said there is no conflict. “I take pictures with whoever asks me for a picture,” she told CBS Miami, about a photo of her with Salazar.

The reactions

“We are obviously disappointed,” said J.C. Planas, Rodriguez’s attorney, after the hearing, according to Local 10. Planas once ran for supervisor of elections himself and lost to Garcia, Local 10 reported.

Kevin J. Cooper, chairman of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County, welcomed the ruling. “Count every lawful vote, follow the law, and let our election professionals do their jobs without political intimidation,” he said in a statement, Local 10 reported.

Rodriguez said before the recount, “Whatever the final outcome, I will respect the will of the voters,” CBS Miami reported.

The count

The hearing was set for 9 a.m. The machine recount began at 10 a.m. at elections headquarters in Doral, CBS Miami reported. That left the judge a one-hour margin. Salazar’s is wider.

She leads by 1,090 votes, NBC 6 South Florida reported. Results are due to the state by 3 p.m. Thursday, Local 10 reported.

“The statement has now been officially found dumb, and the supervisor officially allowed to proceed,” said a county official known to this bureau only as Deep Throat Lozenge. “In Miami-Dade, that is what a clean bill of health looks like.”

The machines will report Thursday. Garcia’s estimate is already on file.

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