The fight for the U.S. Senate in Florida rages on as election officials across the state’s 67 counties work to complete a flurry of recounts.
But as officials race to complete their machine recounts in the senator, governor, and agriculture commissioner contests, a legal battle has just begun.
In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democrat incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson have hired armies of lawyers in preparation for what is expected to be a protracted legal fight in state and federal court.
Already, at least nine lawsuits from the candidates and their allies have been filed, and more are expected once the counties submit the results of the machine recounts to the Florida secretary of state by a Thursday afternoon deadline.
Scott and his backers have so far focused their efforts on Broward and Palm Beach counties, respectively, filing suits against Brenda Snipes and Susan Bucher, the supervisors of elections in the respective counties.
[Related: Who is Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes?]
Nelson, meanwhile, has filed lawsuits in federal court against Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
Here’s a rundown of the current legal disputes:
Rick Scott for Senate and National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Brenda Snipes
Scott claims in a lawsuit, filed in court in Broward County on Thursday, that Snipes violated Florida public record laws by not disclosing records showing how many people voted and how many ballots have yet to be tallied.
A Florida judge on Friday sided with Scott and ordered Snipes to disclose the number of ballots cast in Broward County and how many still needed to be tallied.
Rick Scott for Senate v. Susan Bucher
Scott’s campaign accused Palm Beach County election officials in a lawsuit filed in Florida court Thursday of violating Florida law by refusing to allow their representatives “to properly witness defendant’s processing and duplication of physically damaged absentee ballots.”
The lawsuit also claims Bucher withheld a portion of “overvoted” and “undervoted” absentee ballots from the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board and made determinations regarding voter intent in violation of state law.
Rick Scott for Senate v. Brenda Snipes
The Republican Senate candidate’s campaign asked the Florida court on Saturday to block Broward County from including ballots not counted in the unofficial returns submitted to the Florida secretary of state on Saturday in the final count due to the state Nov. 18.
Rick Scott for Senate v. Brenda Snipes
The lawsuit filed in state court by Scott on Sunday against the Broward County elections chief sought to require local and state law enforcement to impound voting machines in the county when they’re not in use.
Florida Circuit Chief Judge Jack Tuter denied Scott’s request Monday and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing in Broward County’s vote-counting efforts.
Tuter urged lawyers in the courtroom to “ramp down the rhetoric.”
“We have to be careful about what we say,” Tuter said, according to reports.
Rick Scott for Senate v. Susan Bucher
Like in Broward County, Scott asked a Florida court Sunday to require local and state law enforcement to impound and secure all voting machines, tallying devices, and ballots in Palm Beach County when not in use until the recount is complete.
Democratic Executive Committee of Florida and Bill Nelson for U.S. Senate v. Kenneth Detzner
The lawsuit from Florida Democrats filed in federal court Thursday challenges the signature-matching process for provisional and vote-by-mail ballots, calling it “demonstrably standardless, inconsistent, and unreliable.”
On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said in an order that the court would “elicit testimony” from Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley to give an example of how election officials determine whether a provisional or vote-by-mail ballot should be rejected because of mismatched signatures.
Democratic National Committee/Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and VoteVets Action Fund v. Ken Detzner
In their lawsuit filed in federal court Monday, the Democratic groups are calling for vote-by-mail ballots postmarked before Nov. 6 and received within 10 days of Election Day to be counted.
The lawsuit also asks the court to block a Florida law that governs whether vote-by-mail ballots are counted “solely on when the ballot is received by the supervisor of elections, which is an arbitrary date entirely beyond voters’ control,” according to court filings.
Under Florida law, mail-in ballots from outside the U.S. are counted if they are received up to 10 days after Election Day. However, those sent from within Florida or the U.S. have to be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Common Cause Florida and League of Women Voters of Florida v. Rick Scott
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday, seeks to bar Scott from having a role in the recount and using “the power of his office in any manner related to Florida’s 2018 Senate race as long as he remains a candidate.”
“Scott’s misuse of his official powers in favor of his own candidacy demonstrates the truth of the axiom that no man may be the judge in his own cause,” the groups wrote.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Bill Nelson v. Kenneth Detzner
The most recent lawsuit from Nelson’s Senate campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, filed in federal court Tuesday, challenges two rules local canvassing boards apply to determine a voter’s intent on a ballot.
The rules are used during a manual recount, as the election officials examine ballots with overvotes and undervotes for the Senate race that couldn’t be counted through the machine recount, which is currently taking place.
“The state will incur no burden in counting the votes of voters who clearly indicated their definite choice for Florida’s U.S. Senate race, but may not have done so in the same manner for every race on the ballot or may not have cancelled-out erroneous overvotes using written words,” the DSCC and Nelson’s campaign wrote in their lawsuit.
