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WASHINGTON – Florida is once again at the center of a political cliffhanger and escalating tension as Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who claims victory in the US Senate race, blames election officials two counties want to steal the elections and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson digs for a recount.
Late last Thursday, Scott's campaign filed a lawsuit against Democratic election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties and ordered state law enforcement officers to investigate the offices of the police. vote. "I will not sit idly by as unethical Liberals try to steal this election from the great people of Florida," Scott said.
There was no evidence of fraud, but the two counties, filled with Democratic voters, did not submit a count of the official ballots and Mr Scott saw his lead to be reduced to 15,074 votes, or 0 , 18%. Under Florida's election laws, the elections are directed to a manual recount.
President Trump, whose rallies in Florida last week helped boost Republican enthusiasm in the state, says on Twitter, "Law enforcement is investigating another major corruption scandal related to election fraud at #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!
On Friday morning at the White House, Trump criticized Broward County for a "horrific story" with the elections. When asked if there would be a federal government involvement, he replied "could be".
Prosecutions by Governor Scott claim that Broward County election supervisor Brenda Snipes violated the Public Records Act by failing to publish information on votes and total votes. attend the examination of mail ballots physically damaged. Scott asks for an emergency court hearing. He also asked the Florida Law Enforcement Department to conduct an investigation and the agency announced his intention.
An employee of the Broward County Election Supervisor's office distributes the ballots from the mid-term election to a machine.
Photo:
Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press
"Their goal is to continue to mysteriously search for votes until the elections unfold as they wish," Governor Scott said Thursday evening at the governor's residence in Tallahassee.
Nelson, through a campaign spokesman, appeared to admit on Tuesday night but quickly said he was waiting for the final results. He hired a leading Democratic Democrat and raised money before a recount.
"The goal here is to see that all votes in Florida are counted and counted accurately," said Dan McLaughlin, spokesman for Nelson, in a statement Thursday night. "Rick Scott's action seems to be politically motivated and driven by desperation."
The Senate race was the most expensive in the country, with Scott investing $ 60 million of his fortune in television commercials. He had won two tight gubernatorial elections, but the Senate race is the tightest to date and has evoked the confrontation between the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
In the mid-term elections, Republicans won three Senate seats held by Democrats in states that Mr. Trump won in 2016, and the party appeared to be on the verge of overthrowing a fourth Florida seat. If Mr. Nelson finally retains his seat after the counting of the ballot and Democratic Democrat Kyrsten Sinema wins in the Arizona Senate race, the Republican majority in the House would be much smaller than expected in the evening. of the election.
At the same time, the governor's race in Florida could also be recounted, with Republican Ron DeSantis' margin of victory over the Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum continuing to shrink since election night.
Mr DeSantis' advance was reduced to just over 38,000 votes, or 0.47% of the total votes cast. Under Florida law, a margin of 0.5% or less requires an automatic recount.
Gillum conceded Tuesday night, but his campaign issued a statement Thursday in light of the statistics. "Tuesday night, the Gillum for Governor campaign was held with the best information available," said Communications Director Johanna Cervone. "Since that time, it has become apparent that there are many more unnumbered ballots than what was originally announced."
She said the campaign and her lawyer were monitoring the situation.
"We want every vote to be counted," Gillum said in a statement.
video posted Thursday. "We did not go through that state by talking to people in red counties and blue and purple counties so they would not have a say."
In a statement released by DeSantis' campaign, he said, "I had the honor on Tuesday night of being elected 46th Governor of the State of Florida. The election results were clear. I am now focused on the transition effort. "
Write to Alex Leary at [email protected] and Andrew Duehren at [email protected]
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