BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. Broward's first election since the removal of controversial elections supervisor Miriam Oliphant came down to a recount Thursday.

Channel 10's Doug Dunbar spent the afternoon with officials who are not only scrutinizing the race, but also more than 100 votes that were cast for no one.

Broward County's canvassing board began the recount at 1:30 p.m. In attendance were District 91 state House seat winner Ellyn Bogdanoff and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Mayor Oliver Parker, who finished just 12 votes behind Bogdanoff.

That narrow margin triggered the automatic recount.

First came three different logic and accuracy tests on the machines that tabulate absentee and provisional ballots. Then came the electronic recount from the touch-screen machines. Two hours later, the canvassing board had drawn its conclusion.

"The results today are exactly as they were on Tuesday," said Ed Dion, county attorney.

Not good news for Parker, who is also irked by the fact that there were 134 undervotes ballots the touch-screen machines say were cast for no one. He said that he wouldn't count out legal action.

Bogdanoff feels there's a logical explanation for the more than 100 undervotes.

"A number of voters were confused, came in to vote, and found no Democrats on the ballot," Bogdanoff said.

The board was briefed by a representative from the machine manufacturer who said that no problems were found, so it was chalked up to voter error. That is something at which Brenda Snipes, interim elections supervisor, will take a close look before the March presidential primary.

"What it says to me is that we need to focus more on voter education," Snipes said.

The machines that recount absentee and provisional ballots did spit out three overvotes and two undervotes. By state law, those will now have to be manually recounted, but with a 12-vote difference, Bogdanoff is still the winner. (link)