MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. -- While Florida is a state famous for recounts, what has transpired over the last 12 days was uncharted territory.

  • Three statewide recounts in Florida
  • Manatee Co. hit roadblock Monday with machine recount
  • Officials say there are lessons to be learned

"We've never had three statewide recounts in Florida before, never," Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett said.

The machine recount hit a roadblock on Monday in Manatee County, when officials realized one of their high-speed scanners was not processing ballots correctly. Election officials caught the mistake after about four hours and the team stayed late on Monday night to make up for lost time.

But Bennett says a lot of what caused hiccups in the process was out of his control.

"It's really a shame," he said. "I think what made this one a little more difficult was I guess, judicial interference.

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that voters who had their mail-in or provisional ballots rejected due to issues with signatures would have until Saturday evening to fix them.

"You don't change the rules in the middle of the game," Bennett said. "So I highly objected to it, it caused confusion and made Florida look bad."

This former state senator says while the election itself may be almost over, the work for some is just beginning.

"There's a lot of history for the legislature to go back and look at and see what things can be improved," Bennett said.