ivan, thank you. you re welcome. thanks. days after u.s. voters went to the polls for the mid term elections, florida is set to see a recount in three statewide races. cnn s ryan noble explains why all of the eyes are on the contest for governor and u.s. senate. reporter: the recount is officially underway here in florida. the secretary of state ordered it saturday afternoon after all the votes from all 67 counties were recorded in his office. in order for that recount to take place the margin of victory had to be less than half of a percent and that s exactly what we had in the governor s race, the u.s. senate race and the agriculture race. the recount is already underway and it will continue until thursday of next week. take a look at the numbers again at that time, and if any of these races fall within a quarter of a percent they ll do a second more exhaustive hand recount of over votes and under votes. that needs to be completed by the 18th of november and that s
a massive recount of the three statewide races already under way. it was triggered by the secretary of state automatically at noon today and already in miami-dade county, the biggest county in florida, they are counting again. it is an automatic machine recount. it s got to be done by thursday of next week. they re going to take a look at the numbers and if any of these races fall within a quarter of a percent and we think at least the senate race will, that will mean another round of counting. this a hand recount of the overvotes and undervotes until the 18th of november to wrap that up and then that could start another stage of lengthy and costly court battles as everyone here tries to figure out who the next senator, the next agricultural commissioner and the next governor of florida is. s.e., no doubt the people of florida are having whiplash. echoes of what happened 18 years ago with the presidential election. hope things will be different this time around. a lot of laws have been
recount done and reassess the vote at that time and if it s within a quarter of a percentage point, any of the races, they move to a hand recount. they re not going to recount every single ballot by hand but only those that they consider to be overvotes or undervotes and then they have until the 18th of november to get all of those votes tabulated and declare a winner. now, the system is in place and the system is designed for everything to end on the 18th. but s.e., the way this looks a lot like 2000 is that there are lawyers that have come from all over here to florida and many of them, the same names that you recall from the 2000 election and they are prepared to file lawsuits. if they feel the candidates are on the losing end of this, and that s why this process could take longer than the deadline on the 18th but florida officials are hopeful the voting margin will be clear and decisive on the 18th and all over. you re giving mae ajita.
this race. this recount is going to start today. the first stage of it is over on thursday. we won t have an official tally until the 18th of november, and then, anna, that opens a door to potential court cases down the road. it s incredible. it s florida. it s like deja vu over and over again in that state. yeah, i was there with you, ryan, on election night. as we were covering the election as a team. i couldn t believe the amount of voter enthusiasm that state has with more than 60% of registered voters in that state turning out to cast a vote in this election. thank you for continuing to stay on top of it for us, ryan. also, a programming note. make sure you tune in tomorrow night for the final episode of anthony bourdain parts unknown where he takes a personal journey through a formerly bohemian new york neighborhood right here on cnn. that s at 9:00 p.m. eastern. don t go anywhere. back in a minute.
here today. but there is another hearing take place down the road from me here in federal court that bill nelson filed that starts at 4:00, against the secretary of straig state, also asking for more transparency and clarification into how provisional ballots will be adjudicated in florida. so so many moving parts to this story, brooke. and obviously, a lot at stake. okay. 45 seconds left, ryan. i want you to tell me, for people, you know, following all of the threads and meetings and this and that, when does this have to be resolved? is there a deadline? reporter: right. yeah. great question. so according to florida law, it has to be finished by the 18th of november. so there s technically a finish line in sight. so on saturday, we get the first unofficial count. if it s within a margin, then we have another unofficial count. that has to be done by the 15th. that s when that could potentially trigger the hand recount and then it s got to be done by the 18th, which is a sunday. tha