Democratic congressional candidate Nicole Locklin said Monday that all votes in Florida's 26th congressional district race must be counted — possibly recounted — and that she will not concede to her opponent, incumbent U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
"The race for Florida’s 26th Congressional District is not over," she said in a campaign statement.
"We want every ballot to be counted and accurately reported," she said. "Our investigations into the many anomalies of this election remain unresolved so we will continue our work."
The supervisors of election in Broward and Miami-Dade counties say they are continuing to review outstanding ballots — that may or not be counted — but that there are not enough to sway the election's outcome.
Diaz-Balart's lead over Locklin is 1,702 votes out of 229,804 cast, according to the latest tally, in a race that has turned out much closer than expected.
The congressional district map was redrawn earlier this year and include parts of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Last Wednesday, Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, declared he won his re-election to Congress, defeating Locklin and a third candidate with no-party-affiliation. The Associated Press, however, has not called the race.
"AP only calls a race when we are fully confident that race has been won — defined most simply as the moment the trailing candidates no longer have a path to victory," the global news agency reports on its website.
The Florida Division of Elections website on Monday morning showed Diaz-Balart leading the field with 114,578 votes (49.86%), Locklin with 112,874 votes (49.12%) and Deborah Ann Meidinger Hosey, the NPA candidate, with 2,352 votes (1.02%).
Locklin claims she held a lead of 2,545 votes at the end of Election Night Tuesday but that the lead "vanished from the count without explanation."
"The AP has attributed this vote decrease to a 'manual data entry error' but we have not yet received any evidence to support that assertion, and we have received conflicting accounts from the AP and the Miami-Dade SOE," Locklin said.
READ MORE: Machine recounts set this week for one Florida congressional race and one state House contest
"We are demanding evidence from the [Miami-Dade] SOE to independently verify the election results via public records requests," Locklin said. "The SOE is required to provide us with that data under state law."
"If we do not receive it early this coming week, we will take legal action to compel production," she added. "It is not unreasonable to demand an explanation backed by evidence. The American people and FL-26 voters deserve transparency and accountability."
The AP told CBS Miami that a data entry error caused an incorrect vote total to briefly appear for Locklin, which was quickly identified and corrected.
Whatever the outcome of the FL-26 race, it won't matter to the balance of power in Washington.
Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, delivering a decisive rebuke of Republican governance in Washington and ushering in a new era of congressional resistance to President Donald Trump.
Tuesday’s midterm elections laid bare voters’ deep frustrations over high prices, the Iran war and concerns over government corruption.
Democrats routed their rivals across the map, flipping states that have voted Republican for decades and that Trump won by double digits just two years ago.
Democrats hold a commanding 254-163 majority over Republicans, with only 18 races left to be decided, according to the AP.
