Election contests continue in Florida, Georgia

(AP) – Razor-thin margins in Florida’s bitter races for the U.S. Senate and governor are raising the possibility of recounts, potentially prolonging two of the most closely watched contests of the nation’s midterm elections.

In the governor’s race, Democrat Andrew Gillum’s campaign said Thursday it’s readying for a possible recount. He conceded to Republican Ron DeSantis on Tuesday night, though the race has since tightened. DeSantis led Gillum by 0.47 percentage point as of Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson has begun preparing for a potential recount in a race that is still too close to call against Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Scott held a 0.21 percentage lead over Nelson on Thursday afternoon.

The tight races underscored Florida’s status as a perennial swing state where elections are often decided by the thinnest of margins.

In 2000, Florida decided the presidency by a few hundred votes in a contest that took more than five weeks to sort out.

Republican Brian Kemp is behaving like he’s the next governor of Georgia, even though his Democratic rival Stacey Abrams insists there are votes left to count.

With a clear-but-narrow lead in unofficial returns, Kemp on Thursday stepped down as secretary of state.

He said he was turning his attention to his next job, but he’s also been under intense criticism for how he’s handled his own election so far.

The secretary of state’s office says there are fewer than 22,000 provisional ballots left to count. That would not enough to force a December runoff.

The Abrams campaign says there could be more pending votes, and they are using litigation to find out. They say the office Kemp ran until Thursday hasn’t been forthcoming enough about the details.