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Puerto Rico's two highest courts ordered election authorities in separate rulings Saturday to immediately begin recounting votes cast in the extremely tight Nov. 2 gubernatorial elections. The recounts were ordered by the U.S. District Court and the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Dominguez decided in favor of pro-statehood candidate Pedro Rossello's lawsuit to force an immediate recount of preliminary election results, which showed him narrowly losing to Anibal Acevedo Vila, who supports Puerto Rico maintaining its current status as a U.S. commonwealth. The Supreme Court ruling came in a case filed by four private citizens. The courts ordered the State Elections Commission to start recounting ballots immediately rather than wait for the outcome of a lengthy review of vote tallies from more than 7,000 precincts. Election authorities were reviewing the tally sheets to confirm that Acevedo's margin of victory was less than 0.5 percent, which would require a recount. The courts decided officials should check the tally sheets and conduct the recount simultaneously. [more]

Puerto Rican candidate asks court to reject 28,000 ballots [more]