Vote counts: In Florida, recount fuels widening electoral distrust
There are 27,195 reasons why Republicans in Florida distrust Brenda Snipes. And there are at least the same number of reasons Democrats are standing by her.
Broward County’s supervisor of elections has been at the center of a number of election controversies in her 15 years on the job. But there has never been anything quite like this.
On election night, Gov. Rick Scott (R) appeared headed for victory in his bid to oust incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D).
Then something unusual started to happen.
In the days after the election, a steady influx of votes from heavily Democratic Broward County began to appear in the Scott-Nelson race. By Friday, the influx totaled 27,195 more votes for Senator Nelson. Scott’s lead in the race diminished to fewer than 13,000 votes.
A similar tightening took place in the closely watched gubernatorial contest between Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) and former Rep. Ron DeSantis (R).
The influx of votes prompted charges of corruption and election fraud from Governor Scott and President Trump, though there is no direct evidence of that – at least so far. Nonetheless, a small army of Republican lawyers has been sent here to gather evidence for investigations and potential lawsuits.
At the same time, Democrats mobilized their own legal SWAT team, plotting a counter-strategy in the unfolding election drama.
A mandatory statewide machine recount of all votes is currently under way in both the Senate and governor’s races. A hand recount of ballots will be ordered if the margin of victory is within a
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