All eyes are on Broward and Palm Beach counties as the recount in this year’s midterm elections continues. The three races that are under a recount include the governor, U.S. Senate and Agriculture Commissioner. Miami Herald reporter David Smiley has been following the recount efforts in both counties. He joined Sundial to explain some of the intricacies of Governor Rick Scott’s lawsuit against the Broward County Supervisor of Elections and Republican concerns of election interference. The counties are supposed to finish their recount tallies by Thursday, Nov. 15.
Next, we take a closer look at the race for Agricultural Commissioner between Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell and Democrat candidate Nicole “Nikki” Fried. Last Tuesday, Caldwell was called the winner but the vote differential was so small that the race was sent it to an automatic recount. Now, the vote count has put Fried ahead by more than 5,000 votes. The Miami Herald reported 113,600 votes to be manually recounted for this race. Caldwell has filed a lawsuit against the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes. He joined Sundial to talk about the meaning behind the lawsuit and what he hopes it will accomplish.
Former National Geographic photographer Nathan Benn has a new exhibit, “A Peculiar Paradise,” at the History of Miami Museum. It's a trip back in time to the state of Florida in 1981. Benn captured with his camera a Miami grappling with a wave of immigrants and the fallout of the cocaine wars. His photos also show the state’s beautiful landscape and odd quirks like a giant alligator statue on the side of the road. Benn joined Sundial to explain how many of the issues he photographed continue to resonate in the contemporary era.
Lastly, another author from the Miami Book Fair joins Sundial for a literary chat. P. Scott Cunningham is passionate about poetry. He’s the founder of the O, Miami poetry festival -a month-long poetry initiative to expose each Miami-Dade resident to a poem- and of Jai-Alai Books, a poetry publishing company. In March, Cunningham published his first poetry book called “Ya Te Veo.” The book was selected as part of the prestigious Miller Williams Poetry Series that is edited by poet Billy Collins and published by University of Arkansas Press. Many of the poems follow composer Morton Feldman and Cunningham’s connection to him.