The mere mention of Florida these days still evokes nightmares for Democrats who worked closely with Vice President Al Gore 18 years ago. Florida’s 25 electoral votes at the time — and the presidency itself — were up in the air for 36 grueling days while ballots were recounted and the country watched and waited. The drama ended with an indecipherable but wholly consequential Supreme Court decision that put Mr. Bush in office.

“It’s inconceivable that 18 years after 2000, Florida still hasn’t developed competencies in terms of counting ballots in an orderly and timely manner,” said one former top Gore aide who did not want to be named for fear of stirring up old ghosts.

But Florida wasn’t the only state still furiously counting ballots.

In the Georgia governor’s race, the state was still trying to determine if the candidates were headed for a runoff. Brian Kemp, the Republican currently ahead of his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, by about 63,000 votes, declared victory this week. But allies of Ms. Abrams spent Friday in a vigorous push to get people who cast provisional ballots because of identification problems to take a final step to ensure their votes would count.

In Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic candidate in the state’s uncalled Senate race, expanded her lead on Friday to 20,203 votes over Martha McSally, the Republican contender.

As the complicated political maneuverings unfolded in Florida, there were constant reminders that, 18 years after the Bush-Gore controversies, Florida remains in Republican control — a crucial factor in an election where partisan interests are at stake. Florida Republicans in 2018 hold the same levers of power over the election that they did in 2000, with the governor appointing the secretary of state in charge of elections.

By Friday, when the Senate race appeared to be squarely within the margins of an automatic recount — Mr. Scott was ahead of the Democratic incumbent, Senator Bill Nelson, by only 0.18 percentage points — the governor’s own lawsuits were heard in state court. He had filed them the night before against Dr. Snipes and her counterpart in Palm Beach County, Susan Bucher, over how the last ballots were being counted and reported.