Filing # 80745948 E-Filed 11/13/2018 04:49:43 PM IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR LEON COUNTY, FLORIDA BONFIGLIO, JIM Plaintiff(s), vs. CASE NO. 2018 CA 002408 DETZNER IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF STATE, KEN Defendant(s) . ORDER ON CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, ORDER SUSPENDING CERTAIN DEADLINES AND ORDER SETTING STATUS CONFERENCE THIS CAUSE came before the Court on November 13, 2018 for a case management conference in this high priority election involving the House District 89 contest. Attorneys Ufferman, Blank, Cato, Hinkle, Anstead, Mitchell, Hall and Fernandez were present, as was plaintiff Bonfiglio. The Court having hearing from counsel and the parties, and the pending intervenors and potential intervenors, and being otherwise fully advised in the premises, makes the following findings and conclusions of law: 1. The task at hand is to address the statutory provisions relating to machine and manual recounts for eFiled by GTEVERS, KAREN A on BM Neb Date (SigningDate}certain election contests, and the reporting and certification of the election results when the limitation of resources - in this case, the machines needed for the machine recounts - makes impossible the compliance with certain time frames. The Unique Palm Beach County Situation 2. According to counsel, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Bucher has eight machines [at most] that can be used for the machine recounts to be done. Reportedly unique among Florida's 67 supervisors, Supervisor Bucher has available to her machines that are 11 years old and can only count ballots for one contest at a time, while the machines available in the other 66 counties can perform machine recounts of more than one contest at a time. 3. According to those present, there has never been a machine recount for a statewide contest, something required if the vote difference is less than 0.5%. This year, three statewide contests [U.S. Senate, Governorand Agriculture Commissioner] concluded the initial calculation with vote differentials in the less than 0.5% range, triggering a need for a statewide machine recount in each of those three contests. 4. Here, the contest between candidates Bonfiglio and Caruso ended with merely 37 votes separating the candidates, out of the more than 80,000 votes cast in the contest for House District 89, clearly within the 0.5% margin. 5. Florida's election laws are compartmentalized and are somewhat inconsistent. The statutes do not seem to contemplate a situation, such as here, where close results trigger the need for multiple recounts. 6. For example, mailed ballots can be counted if received before the polls close on election day, unless they are received from persons overseas or on active duty in the military, in which event the Supervisors of Elections must count them as long as they are received before midnight ten days after the election, i.e., by