President Trump claimed Monday an honest vote tally in Florida’s races for governor and the U.S. Senate is no longer possible because the ballots have been “infected” by voting irregularities.
“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday morning.
[More: Trump: I am sending lawyers to Florida to ‘expose the fraud’]
The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018
Republican Gov. Rick Scott, the candidate for Senate, filed several lawsuits against Broward and Palm Beach Counties Sunday that accuse officials of “willful disregard of the law.” He said those counties failed to count their votes on time, and mixed in votes that should have been disqualified with legal ballots.
Both counties are in the process of recounting votes nearly a week after the election took place. Scott had a small lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson as of Sunday night of just under 13,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast.
The GOP governor is asking the judge not to allow the counting of any ballots that weren’t counted by Saturday, the state’s legal deadline for tallying up election results. He also wants voting equipment and paper ballots to be seized by police.
Nelson has said Scott is “worried that when all votes are counted he’ll lose the election.”
Republican Ron DeSantis, a former congressman, leads Democrat Andrew Gillum by 33,000 votes in the governor’s race, as of Saturday evening, according to data by the Associated Press.
Gillum had conceded to DeSantis on election night but rescinded that decision on Sunday.
