Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign manager is calling on the state’s Democratic Party chairwoman to resign, accusing her of conducting “an illegal scheme to alter election forms” in the still-undecided Senate race.
Jackie Schutz Zeckman, Scott’s campaign manager, said Terrie Rizzo was behind an attempt to extend the legally established due date sent to voters who were asked to correct problems with their mail-in ballots.
“News reports yesterday and today revealed that the Florida Democrat Party engaged in an illegal scheme to alter election forms and deceive voters regarding the deadlines for submitting votes,” Zeckman said in a statement.
Florida officials have sought the help of federal prosecutors to examine the matter, in which Democratic party officials appear to have changed the date from Nov. 6 until Nov. 8 for voters to fix mail-in ballot problems in four counties, including Broward County, a heavily populated Democratic stronghold.
The legal date is Nov. 6, the day of the general election. It’s not clear why Democratic party officials changed the date, but some have speculated they mixed it up with the Nov. 7 deadline for provisional ballots.
Party officials can send the correction letters to voters whose ballots are poised to be thrown out due to missing information or mismatched signatures.
Scott, a Republican, leads Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by 12,500 votes in the unofficial tally.
The Scott campaign, which has asserted Democrats are trying to fraudulently win the election, wants Rizzo to resign over the matter.
“Bill Nelson can either stay silent and be in favor of organized fraud by the Democrat Party, or he can do the right thing and demand the immediate resignation of Florida’s Democrat Party chair,” Zeckman said.
The state is conducting a machine recount of the very close, still-undecided race.
Nelson has been somewhat successful in challenging discarded ballots. A judge ruled Thursday that local election officials may have until Sunday to re-examine ballots tossed out under the state’s signature match law.
