The Rodriguez campaign filed the suit Friday, asking that Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Alina Garcia be barred from the canvassing board that will oversee the recount. The complaint alleges Garcia cannot be impartial, citing her public statements and personal ties to Salazar.

"Voters deserve impartiality in how their votes are counted, and that's why the decision was made to go to federal court," said JC Planas, an attorney for Rodriguez.

At the heart of the dispute is Garcia's role in a process where every ballot decision matters. Florida law requires an automatic recount when the final margin is half a percentage point or less. With 1,090 votes separating the candidates, the race falls within that threshold, triggering a machine recount that could be followed by a manual one if the margin narrows further.

The lawsuit points to a statement Garcia made to the press on Tuesday, before the final count was certified. "She gave a statement to the press on Tuesday that there shouldn't be a recount because Salazar was going to win anyway," Planas said.

The complaint also highlights Garcia's personal connections to Salazar. Photos on the two women's social media accounts show them together, and in one post Garcia describes Salazar as a "dear friend of many years." More significantly, the suit notes that Garcia's son-in-law, attorney Robert Fernandez Rodriguez, is representing Salazar in the recount process.

Garcia rejected the calls for her recusal. "Statutorily there is no reason why I need for me to recuse myself, so I'm not going to," she said. "There's nothing to be concerned about. Unfortunately, because it's a partisan issue, some people like to divide instead of unite. I am not one of those people."

Her office has maintained that no conflict exists.

Salazar's campaign pushed back sharply against the lawsuit, accusing Rodriguez of "behaving like an election denier, attempting to turn the process into a political circus," while saying the incumbent welcomes the recount.

Fernandez, the attorney and Garcia's son-in-law, defended the integrity of the process. "It is completely transparent," he said. "There are uniform guidelines to determine voter intent. Everybody is here to watch it, so watch for yourselves and make a determination."

For Rodriguez's legal team, the stakes go beyond the recount itself. "The canvassing board will determine for whom the mark is made," Planas said. "This is something that requires the utmost objectivity and the utmost lack of partisanship."

The race is one of several tight contests in Florida this cycle, where Republicans maintained their hold on the state but by narrower margins than in recent years. The outcome in District 27 could affect the balance of power in Congress, adding urgency to the recount and the legal fight over who oversees it.

The secretary of state is expected to formally order the recount, with election workers and observers from both campaigns likely to gather at the Miami-Dade elections office early next week. The federal lawsuit could complicate that timeline if a judge intervenes before the canvassing board convenes.

For now, Garcia says she will stay on the board, and Salazar's team says it is ready for the recount. Rodriguez's campaign says it will continue pressing its case in court, arguing that public confidence in the vote count depends on removing any appearance of favoritism.

"Voters deserve impartiality," Planas repeated. "That's why we're in federal court."