Election night in Florida saw close races in some of the biggest races this year. Tallahassee mayor and Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum conceded the governor's race to Republican Ron DeSantis.

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Unofficial results showed Republican Rick Scott narrowly ahead of Democrat Bill Nelson in the race for Senate, with Nelson pushing for a recount. Even the race for Ag Commissioner is expecting a recount.

So could these 2018 races go to a recount? Here's what state laws say:

Leads by less than a percentage point

Florida state law requires the margin of victory to be equal or less than 0.5 percent of total votes. A machine recount is used in the case but if the margin is equal or less than 0.25 percent, a hand recount is ordered.

In Gillum's case, the numbers Wednesday morning showed him with 3,996,679 votes to DeSantis' 4,052,118, a margin of 0.7 percent. (NOTE: These numbers are being updated frequently today. We'll do our best to update them.)

Nelson's campaign says his race is headed to a recount Tuesday. Unofficial numbers showed a difference of 30,176 votes between the senator and challenger Scott. That's less than a one-half percentage point.

For Nelson, the next step in this process is for county supervisors of elections recheck their vote tally and for the campaign to contact voters whose ballots weren't counted due to lack of ID or a matching address by noon Saturday.

That deadline could be extended if the recount proceeds. Secretary of State Ken Detzner had not announced an official recount as of noon Wednesday.

Ballots counted after Election Night

Both provisional and absentee votes from overseas are counted after Election Day. Provisional ballots are required by federal law and are used when there is uncertainty about a voter's identity. These ballots are investigated by the board of elections.

Only a handful of counties have finished counting provisional ballots and overseas absentee ballots can continue to be counted until 10 days after the election.

Is Andrew Gillum's concession legally binding?

Gillum conceded his race in a tearful speech Tuesday, but Nelson did not. In 2000, Al Gore conceded to George W. Bush, but it didn't halt the automatic recount when the margin was .03 percent.

The speeches are not legally binding and are simply a courtesy gesture to respecting the vote and democratic process.

More:Four factors that dragged Andrew Gillum down in Florida governor race

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