Two Florida judges ruled Friday that supervisors of elections in Palm Beach and Broward Counties must permit the review of ballots cast in the too-close-to-call midterm races.
The rulings apply to Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher and Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, both of whom were accused by Gov. Rick Scott of engaging in voter fraud and illegally withholding information about ballot counts in order to derail his bid for U.S. Senate.
Per the Associated Press, West Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge Krista Marx ordered that any ballot thrown out as illegitimate by Bucher or her staff will need to be reviewed by the canvasing board. Bucher was also ordered to provide a list of everyone who voted by provisional ballot by 4 p.m. ET Friday, according to the AP.
In Broward, Judge Carol-Lisa Phillip ordered Snipes to allow the inspection of voter records on or before 7 p.m. ET Friday, the AP reported.
The Scott campaign declared victory in response to the rulings, releasing a statement insisting that “Bill Nelson is trying to commit voter fraud in broad daylight.”
“We will continue to fight for full transparency and accountability, and to protect the will of Florida voters,” Scott campaign manager Jackie Schutz Zeckman said.
In his own Friday statement, Nelson said that Scott “is trying to stop all the votes from being counted and he’s impeding the democratic process.”
“He isn’t telling the truth, which is: votes are not being found; they’re being counted,” Nelson said.
Scott had called on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate “rampant fraud” in the Senate race, but the agency said Friday that they had received no allegations of voter fraud to investigate.
Florida’s Senate, governor, and agricultural commissioner races are all likely headed to a recount. Under state law, recounts are automatically triggered if candidates end up within 0.5 of a percentage point of each other.
Declaring victory…dirty Republican lying thieves. I declare that Scott should be frog marched to prison like the criminal he is.
Is there a reason they would have a list of everyone who voted by provisional ballot prior to the counting of the provisional ballots?
All the Hype and bullshit
Those “Protesters”
I live in Florida and the local station did a wide shot of the scene
15 maybe 20 people and one Rep ® in a suit and tie
It’s hard to tell what is going on from this report. It would be good to get a politically and legally qualified journalist on the case. Florida is enough of a circus as it is.
I know I’m being naive, but I don’t get the full on campaign mode attitude here. Are the ballot counters really going to do their job differently than they would have otherwise, especially with court rulings in effect?