Missing Votes for Nelson investigates a mysterious undervote in Broward County, Florida, during the 2018 midterm elections, in which more than 30,000 voters left the U.S. Senate race blank. The undervote has been attributed to a poorly designed ballot that tucked the Senate race below the instructions, and may have cost incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson his seat in the U.S. Senate. Missing Votes attempts to recover the votes that Nelson might have received, had the ballot been properly designed; it featured a two-minute performance in which I tried to cast as many “ballots” for Nelson as possible. A manual recount determined that Republican Rick Scott defeated Bill Nelson by just 10,033 votes, or 0.1 of a percentage point.
OMG. Looking at county-level undervote. Broward stands out for having 3.7% of its ballots left blank for #FLSEN but cast for #FLGOV. No other county comes close, and Palm/Dade had more votes for Senator. Either this is ballot design or machine error. #flapol#sayfiepic.twitter.com/OtyK0oO20g
