A voting rights group has filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Rick Scott, alleging the governor abused his power as head of the state to swing the election in his favor in his Senate race against incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Buzzfeed reported.
The suit — filed by Protect Democracy on behalf of a voter in Broward County, the League of Women Voters for the state of Florida and Common Cause Florida — argues that Scott had multiple conflicts of interest that should have prevented him from being involved in determining election results, according to Buzzfeed which obtained a copy of the suit. As governor, he appointed the secretary of state and he sits on the election canvasing board, the suit points out.
The group also alleges that Scott used his influence as governor to lash out against what he perceives as “rampant fraud” in Palm Beach and Broward counties when he held a press conference outside of his governor’s mansion. He later went on Fox News to suggest that “Democrat D.C. lawyers” were trying to “steal the election.”
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida and asks the federal judge to block Scott from using his governorship to be involved in the election recount, which is currently underway.
For his part, Scott has filed five different lawsuits in the past week against county officials and called on his state’s law enforcement to investigate officials for fraud.
