With Representativ Chris Dorworth trailing by 37 votes to Democrat Mike Clelland in House District 29, the Seminole County elections canvassing board will meet Thursday to consider provisional ballots.
Mike Ertel, the county’s supervisor of elections, said in an email Wednesday morning that officials were working to determine how many provisional ballots were cast in District 29.
The canvassing board will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday to consider provisional ballots countywide before sending election results to the Florida Department of State.
It appears almost certain that an automatic recount will be ordered in District 29, regardless of how the provisional ballots turn out. State law requires such recounts when the margin of victory is less than one-half of 1 percent.
Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, has been slated to become House speaker in 2014. But Clelland, an attorney and retired firefighter from Lake Mary, overcame Dorworth’s massive fund-raising edge to lead after polls closed Tuesday.