Democrats are gearing up for a titanic legal fight over what could be multiple recounts in the state of Florida — 18 years after the state’s ramshackle voting system delayed the election of President George W. Bush for 37 days.
In the balance are the governor’s mansion and one U.S. Senate seat, which Republicans believe they had secured on Tuesday. Just 17,429 out of 8,165,741 votes cast in the Senate race separate the GOP’s Gov. Rick Scott, who is leading, from Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democratic incumbent. In the governor’s race, Ron DeSantis, a former GOP congressman, leads Andrew Gillum, the Democrat, by 38,600 votes out of 8,200,905 votes cast.
Nearly two days after the polls closed, one county was still having major problems with counting ballots: Broward, a Democratic stronghold that played a pivotal role in the 2000 presidential election Florida recount. Of the Broward County ballots counted, more than 24,700 voted for a gubernatorial candidate but no candidate for U.S. Senate — a fact seized on by Democrats as an indication that large numbers of votes for Nelson could be missing.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said his party is sending in the legal cavalry to help Sen. Bill Nelson, who has yet to concede his re-election effort against Rick Scott, the outgoing governor. “There’s an army of lawyers down there now that are working on the recount,” Perez said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Thursday. “And I’m glad they’re doing that.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., blasted Broward election supervisors, alleging they were potentially violating state law and opening the door for Democratic lawyers to “steal” seats.
Now democrat lawyers are descending on #Florida. They have been very clear they aren’t here to make sure every vote is counted.
– They are here to change the results of election; &
– #Broward is where they plan to do it.#Sayfie4/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018
Rubio, who was not up for re-election this year, singled out Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes, saying she is not only incompetent at doing her job, but has a record of breaking the law when it comes to counting people’s votes.
#Broward supervisor:
– says she doesn’t know how many ballots are left to be counted; &
– Isn’t reporting hourly or regularly,but rather releasing thousands of additional votes,often in the overnight hours,that are chipping away at GOP leads2/6 #Sayfie
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 8, 2018
In May, a Florida court ruled Snipes had illegally destroyed ballots cast in a 2016 congressional race. As a result, Republican Gov. Rick Scott said the state’s state department would be deployed to Broward to “ensure that all laws are followed.” A Florida judge sided with the GOP in August in a lawsuit, ruling the same county official improperly handled absentee ballots.
Snipes has again drawn scrutiny as reports emerged Thursday of issues concerning thousands of ballots, including an odd occurrence in which more than 24,000 people voted for a gubernatorial candidate but not a Senate candidate, prompting complaints and talk of impending recounts.
Rubio also complained that Snipes hasn’t been transparent enough.
“#Broward supervisor: – says she doesn’t know how many ballots are left to be counted; & – Isn’t reporting hourly or regularly,but rather releasing thousands of additional votes,often in the overnight hours,that are chipping away at GOP leads,” Rubio wrote on Twitter.
The provisional ballots, or votes cast by people who at the time of voting could not prove their identity, must be counted by 5 p.m. ET Thursday. For voters who submitted this type of ballot, each person is responsible for following up with election officials and verifying his or her identity. Due to the tight margins in a number of state races, these few provisional ballots have the potential to change the outcome in races if they tighten up the margin and force a formal recount like in 2000.
In the race for agriculture commissioner, Democrat Nikki Fried has a 4,000-vote lead over Republican Matt Caldwell.
Former GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis has a 38,000-vote advantage over Democrat Andrew Gillum in the gubernatorial race. Both men racked up more than 4 million votes each. Gillum appears to now be banking on a recount to save his campaign after he conceded to DeSantis on election night. In a statement Thursday, Gillum’s campaign said it is “ready for any outcome,” referring to uncounted ballots, which in a close enough race could trigger a recount.
Scott has a 17,000-vote lead on incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Marc Elias, a recount attorney hired by Nelson’s campaign, speculated that a scanning equipment “may not have caught it,” adding, “[t]he intent is clear, but the machine couldn’t pick it up,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.
On Wednesday, Nelson said, “We are proceeding to a recount.”
