Accusing Democrats of conducting a coordinated effort to "steal"
elections in a campaign of possibly "rampant fraud," Republican Senate
candidate Rick Scott filed explosive lawsuits late Thursday against the
top election officials in two heavily Democratic counties, as they
continue to report new votes and three major races in the state appear
headed for recounts.
In their lawsuit against Broward County,
Scott and the National Republican Senatorial Committeee (NRSC) allege
that officials there are hiding critical information about the number of
votes cast and counted. And in a parallel suit against Palm Beach
County, Scott and the NRSC charge that the election supervisor there
illegally used her own judgment to determine voter intent when reviewing
damaged or incorrectly filled-out absentee ballots, while refusing to
allow impartial witnesses to monitor the process.
"I will not
stand idly by while unethical liberals try to steal an election," Scott,
who is currently Florida's governor, said at a press conference outside
the Governor's Mansion, as he slammed potential "rampant fraud" in the
race.
Scott is running against longtime incumbent Democratic Sen.
Bill Nelson. On Thursday, a Nelson spokesperson tersely dismissed
Scott's effort: “The goal here is to see that all the votes in Florida
are counted and counted accurately. Rick Scott’s action appears to be
politically motivated and borne out of desperation.”
The bombshell
litigation comes hours after Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, in an
extraordinary series of tweets that alleged incompetence if not outright
complicity by Florida officials, charged that Democratic lawyers were
"descending on" the state in a calculated attempt to "change the
results" and "try and steal" several statewide races.
Also
late Thursday, President Trump threw another wrench into the evening,
announcing on Twitter that "Law Enforcement is looking into another big
corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm
Beach." He did not elaborate, but speaking to Fox News' "Hannity,"
Scott said he had directed a Florida law enforcement agency to probe the
matter.
"Late Tuesday night, our win was projected to be around
57,000 votes," Scott told reporters. "By Wednesday morning, that lead
dropped to 38,000. By Wednesday evening, it was around 30,000. This
morning, it was around 21,000. Now, it is 15,000."
He continued:
"On election night, Broward County said there were 634,000 votes cast.
At 1 a.m. today, there were 695,700 ballots cast on election day. At
2:30 p.m. today, the number was up to 707,223 ballots cast on Election
Day. And we just learned, that the number has increased to 712,840
ballots cast on Election Day. In Palm Beach County, there are 15,000 new
votes found since election night.
"So, it has been over 48 hours
since the polls closed and Broward and Palm Beach Counties are still
finding and counting ballots – and the Supervisors – Brenda Snipes and
Susan Bucher – cannot seem to say how many ballots still exist or where
these ballots came from, or where they have been," Scott said.
A
mandatory recount now appears imminent not only in Scott's race, but
also in the agricultural commissioner contest and Florida's high-profile
gubernatorial brawl between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron
DeSantis, based on new vote totals -- even though Gillum has already
conceded. Florida law requires a machine recount when candidates are
within 0.50 percentage points of each other.
"I will not stand idly by while unethical liberals try to steal an election."
— GOP Florida Senate candidate Rick Scott
Speaking
to "Hannity" Thursday night, Scott said, "We don't know how many votes
they're gonna come up with. But it appears they're going to try to come
up with as many votes as it takes to win this election. ... We're gonna
fight this, and we're gonna win."
Earlier in the evening, he was
just as direct: "No ragtag group of liberal activists or lawyers from
D.C. will be allowed to steal this election from the voters in the state
of Florida," he said outside his residence.
Scott's first
emergency complaint accuses Broward County Supervisor of Elections
Brenda Snipes of being "unwilling to disclose records revealing how many
electors voted, how many ballots have been canvassed, and how many
ballots remain to be canvassed," and charges that the uncertainty
"raises substantial concerns about the validity of the election
process."
GOP VOTERS WIN GERRYMANDERING LAWSUIT AGAINST DEMS, FORCING MARYLAND TO REDRAW MAP BEFORE 2020
The
NRSC specifically allege that Snipes is in violation of the Florida
Constitution and the Florida Public Records Act. They demand an
emergency hearing, as well as a court order requiring Snipes to turn
over information about ballots in Broward County.
Scott's
complaint against Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan
Bucher, meanwhile, alleges first that officials there illegally refused
to allow Republicans, or any witnesses, to monitor the county's handling
of damaged absentee ballots.
"Even more alarmingly," Scott
additionally claims, Bucher "failed to allow the Palm Beach County
Canvassing Board" to determine, as required by law, which damaged or
improperly filled-out absentee ballots were valid and how the voters of
those ballots had intended to vote. Instead, Scott and the NRSC argue,
Bucher and her staff simply used their own judgment when
determining voters' intent.
The suit against Bucher demands an
injunction requiring Bucher to make and compare duplicate copies of all
damaged absentee ballots in the presence of Scott's representatives, and
to allow the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board to determine voters'
intent when counting those ballots.
Rubio, in his barrage of
broadsides against Snipes earlier in the day, pointed to the "slow drip"
of tens of thousands of additional ballots that were reported
throughout the day Thursday, most of which were favorable to several
Democratic candidates. Rubio said those late disclosures violated
Florida election law, which necessitates that mail-in and early voting
ballots be counted within 30 minutes of polls closing.
"Bay County
was hit by a Cat 4 Hurricane just 4 weeks ago, yet managed to count
votes & submit timely results," Rubio wrote. "Yet over 41 hours
after polls closed #Broward elections office is still counting votes?"
GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE STACEY ABRAMS REFUSES TO CONCEDE
Rubio and Scott both made it clear they have no confidence in Snipes' integrity.
"A
U.S. Senate seat & a statewide cabinet officer are now potentially
in the hands of an elections supervisor with a history of incompetence
& of blatant violations of state & federal laws," Rubio wrote,
linking to a Miami Herald article describing several scandals that have
gripped Broward County’s Elections Department.
Earlier this year, a
judge found that Snipes had illegally destroyed ballots in a 2016
congressional contest, leading the secretary of state's office to assign
election monitors to supervise her.
“I think the problems are
blown out of proportion,” Snipes said in October, in an interview with
The Miami Herald. “Broward is nitpicked to the bone. Other places have
the same problems, different problems. It’s just that they are not
spotlighted like we are.”
At his Thursday press conference, Scott outlined some of Snipes' troubled history.
"In
2016, Brenda Snipes’ office posted election results half an hour before
polls closed – a violation of election law," Scott said. "That same
year, her office was sued for leaving amendments off of ballots. In
2014, Brenda Snipes’ fellow Democrats accused her of individual and
systemic breakdowns that made it difficult for voters to cast regular
ballots. All Floridians should be concerned about that."
Vote
totals in several major races in the state are changing rapidly, on an
irregular schedule and sometimes late into the evening. Scott was ahead
of Nelson by roughly one-fourth of one percentage point as of Thursday
morning, according to The Tampa Bay Times. The paper also said the
agriculture commissioner candidates were separated by only 0.06 points.
That race flipped in favor of the Democratic candidate on Thursday
afternoon.
Broward County reported that significantly more votes
were received in the agriculture commissioner contest than the much
higher-profile Senate election. An attorney for Nelson's campaign
suggested a computer error might explain that anomaly.
In the
closely watched gubernatorial race, DeSantis held a narrow
0.52-percentage-point edge over Gillum as of Thursday morning, extremely
close to the 0.5 percent threshold needed to trigger a machine recount.
Gillum has conceded the race, although his decision is nonbinding.
But
by Thursday afternoon, unofficial figures had DeSantis up by just
38,515 votes out of the more than 8 million cast -- a lead of just 0.47
percent, low enough to trigger a mandatory recount, according to The
Tallahassee Democrat. No recount has yet been announced by Florida's
secretary of state; the first unofficial vote count is expected to be
verified Saturday.
"On Tuesday night, the Gillum for Governor
campaign operated with the best information available about the number
of outstanding ballots left to count," Gillum's campaign said in a
statement Thursday evening. "Since that time, it has become clear there
are many more uncounted ballots than was originally reported. Our
campaign, along with our attorney Barry Richard, is monitoring the
situation closely and is ready for any outcome, including a
state-mandated recount."
Without providing legally sufficient
justification, Rubio said, Democrat-controlled Broward and Palm Beach
counties on Wednesday afternoon continued to report new ballots, cutting
into Scott's already-thin lead and flipping the state's agriculture
commissioner race to Democrats.
Palm Beach County Supervisor of
Elections Susan Bucher told Fox News that Palm Beach is still counting
about 2,000 mail-in ballots where voters circled or highlighted (by
drawing an arrow pointing at the candidate’s name) their choice, instead
of filling in the appropriate bubbles.
Bucher told Fox News that
elections department staff is going through each of the 2,000 mail-in
ballots, and where voter intent is determined, a worker is filling in a
new ballot on behalf of the voter. Where voter intent cannot be
determined, the ballot is sent to the canvassing board to undergo
review.
Elections officials are also reviewing 1,500 military and
overseas ballots which are still being counted. Florida law allows
military servicemembers to mail or fax ballots in. A provisional vote
report is due in Tallahassee on Saturday by noon.
"#Broward
election supervisors ongoing violation of #Florida law requiring timely
reporting isn’t just annoying incompetence," Rubio wrote. "It has opened
the door for lawyers to come here & try to steal a seat in the U.S.
Senate & Florida Cabinet."
Florida law dictates that if the
margin in any race hits 0.25 percent or lower, a manual recount of any
ballots set aside from the machine recount will be ordered --
reminiscent of the scene in the 2000 presidential election, when the
country was gripped by images of poll workers counting votes
deciphering hanging chads by hand.
Broward County election officials did not return Fox News' multiple requests for comment.