Broward County is heavily Democratic. When Former President Obama was running for election, countless black voters who had the legal right under Florida election law to vote right then with a conventional ballot were instead given provisional ballots. Provisional ballots are often not counted for a variety of reasons including being "accidentally" lost. Determine who was given provisional ballots, why, and what happened to those ballots. Democracy does indeed die in darkness.
On another note I read that Russians and others are hacking our feelings through our social media accounts. I have traveled and have relatives all over the United States. 99% of all Americans are kind good people. Some do not have the education and experience you have so it's best to speak to them the way you would try to explain your thoughts and feelings to a loved one like your spouse or child. United we stand, divided we fall.
3
I prefer to deal in facts and logic so there seems to be a real issue with Broward and Palm counties.
To really grasp the logical lapses, consider education. Private schools, in general, have budgets that are a fraction, per student, than public schools. That is a fact. The performance of private school students on standardized tests, college entrance and completion, far outperforms their public school peers. That also is a fact. Consequently, the claim that 'all we need is more money' to fix the public schools is obviously flawed.
Here, we have a couple counties that have repeatedly had election issues over a span of 18 years! However, the other two similarly large voting concentrations near Tampa and Jacksonville have not. Thus, it is not simply because they have so many voters to deal with. If it is incompetence then it should have been fixed by ousting the incompetents in the 18 year period but they haven't. Same lead official, same shady problems counting votes. Add that in random incompetence, the incompetence is just as likely to lean either way but in this case, it has only ever leaned to one parties favor, the party of the incompetent leaders.
I don't see how anyone can honestly fail to question the validity of anything performed by those already proven to be at best incompetent and at worst trying to steal an election.
1
After reading comments stated by a large number of GOP candidates it appears that they, once again are trying to steal another election in Florida. Is this going to be year 2000 all over again? Keep Counting All Ballots!! The integrity of the vote must be maintained.
I think that the GOP would like to forgo the voting process altogether, and have us all jump up and down shouting while waving our hands. Whoever gets the louder return wins.
3
It appears the so-called GOP is trying to steal another election. Don't let them get away again. Save our Republic from the Millionaire hierarchy. Save the vote!! Count them all. All 50 States are watching. All Florida is watching.
1
Time for the UN or the World Bank to send in election monitors perhaps? How can the world have confidence in the US electoral system otherwise?
Conservatives like to dismiss their popular vote losses (especially Trump's) while simultaneously chiding critics to respect "the voters' decision." But that attitude is contradictory on its face. While an electoral victory is still a victory, but Republicans should not fool themselves into thinking they have the general support of the U.S. electorate because there is simply no denying that they do not.
Those GOP politicians suffering from delusions of popularity are only able to do so by embracing plots they consistently fail to prove, namely: voter fraud.
The reality should be depressing from a conservative point of view. Republicans are a political minority that have managed to gain power far out of proportion to the number of people supporting them. This has been accomplished through the electoral college, gerrymandering and (this is key) discouraging/suppressing voters. The only reason, for instance, that the GOP dared to mock Parkland students as "tragedy actors" is because they were accustomed to young independent voters as being disinterested. It is assumed that someone like me will too busy writing online comments to vote. In fact, conservatives depend on low turnout across a slew of demographics.
Like Japan attacking Pearl Harbor, the GOP has started a political fight that, in the long run, they cannot finish.
4
A thought.
Take the money Trump wanted to squander on his "look at me" military parade (it'll probably rain anyway) and buy the country new, standardized, un-hackable, easy-to-use, fool-proof polling machines.
Seriously. What could possibly be more important in a country founded on one person, one vote?
I can't believe the third world approach we take to elections.
4
Believe , it is happening!!
2
"'For all I know, they’re still counting ballots for Al Gore back there!' said Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican from the Florida Panhandle." This, from the state which handed America George W Bush and his master, Dick Cheney, with their program of a fiscally destructive tax cut for the wealthy, two unfunded wars, one questionable, the other unjustified based upon Cheney's manufactured lies about Saddam Hussein's imaginary WMD's, and our consequent second near-Great Depression, all on a basis of 500 contested votes and thousands of dangling chards.
What a spectacle, Rick Scott, pouring forth alligator tears as his lead dwindles while his right-wing cohort, Ron DeSantis revels in his apparent win as governor of the Give-Me state and his even more troublesome neighbor, Brian Kemp, Georgia's-Vote-Suppressor-in-Chief, tries to hang on to his.
Splendid examples, those three, of what Donald Trump "thinks" will Make America Great Again. Of course, they will!
5
The governor has much experience with fraud from his years at HCA, maybe he's hoping for a golden parachute!
4
Whenever I read a story like this I have to wonder why it is that the United States can't join the rest of the civilized democracies of the world and place the entire electoral process under the control of an independent, non-partisan commission. This includes districting, voting rules as to times, places, accessibility, ballots, machines, counting procedures and oversight by interested parties. I've been active on too many elections to count as a partisan observer (often on the losing side) and can say that I never, ever witnessed any activity that I found suspicious. It's just not that hard to do. But as long as you continue to place partisans in charge of elections you can't help but encourage and enable all sorts of undesirable activities. Grow up, US!!!
1
The candidate in the lead is always opposed to a recount and the more afraid they are that a careful recount will hurt them, the more likely they are to scream about fraud. I don't see how any true patriot could oppose recounts; after all, true patriots believe in the will of the people, don't they?
2
@Three Bars You can throw true patriotism out the window when it comes to politics and elections. My preferred candidate in Texas Beto O’Rourke took the “high road” and refused to be ruthless, as taught in Politics 101.
Shenanigans with “Provisional Votes” in my part of the state have led to lawsuits- just as in Florida. This contagion is disgusting and depressing. Patriotism? I think not!
Fraud???
While it is plausible there may have been tampering with ballots, especially in districts of KNOWN voter suppression, seems to me the bigger issue is America's outdated voting system that relies on machines that are often faulty.
Years ago, I watched a conversation with Barbara Simmons on PBS News Hour discussing a book she coauthored with Douglas Jones titled, BROKEN BALLOTS: WILL YOUR VOTE COUNT.
My thought is that until our nations's voting system is revamped to insure the security of every vote cast, there will continue to be accusations of fraud and tampering.
2
While pretty much minimized in this article, Ms Snipes has had repeated issues with ballots and while that may mean she is merely disorganized or there is something more at foot is moot. She should be fired for incompetence, but cannot be as she is an appointed government employee.
So when Rick Scott becomes Senator Scott he will be the FRAUDULENTY elected senator from Florida. By his own words.
1
The events highlight 2 main issues:
Broward county has a flawed, incompetent management
Florida has an unscrupulous, immoral governor
2
This is Hilarious. The governor of FL claiming voter abuse in the state where HE IS THE Governor!! Sorry that all the people you have systematically tried to disenfranchise over the years turned out to vote this time and YOUR state’d system was inadequately prepared to handle it. This would be YOUR fault. YOU are the Governor!!!
4
This reminds me of the scene in citizen Kane, where his newspaper has two headlines prepared for the outcome of Kane’s run for office. The first was “KANE WINS” and the second read “ELECTION FRAUD”
5
Thursday, Nelson's and Gillium's lawyers actually argued in favor of counting votes cast by non-citizens.
https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/10/gillum-nelson-non-citizen-vote/
Their system is operating as planned
Rick Scott set up a blind trust although it's not essentially
blind to him as his wife has many of the same investments .
The prisons here at large outbreaks of HepC and he
refused to spend money on drugs to deal with it that is
until one of the companys in his wifes portfolio stood
to benefit from purchasing this drug.
Between the two of them ,they made several million dollars.
The man himself is a fraud .
3
Nothing short of a worldwide boycott will fix Florida. Disney are you listening? Re-direct your army of lobbyists someplace useful, like the the Florida State House and demand that the voting system be updated and in place well before the next election. The bad publicity that Florida earns for being awash in guns, stand your ground laws,
dead fish, and the inability to run an election EVERY election does not attract international tourists. It
comes off as a no-go zone.
2
If you’re that convinced that a recount wouldn’t change anything, why get in the way of it? (Sigh.)
3
Scott is frugal when buying an election. He never buys more votes that absolutely necessary. This one only cost him $50 million of his personal fortune, which was swindled from Medicare. Think of how much he will be able to steal if he gets to the Senate. Scott knows that the real money game is in Washington.
2
I am sorry , but as a Canadian and American electoral novice , It is very difficult to understand why the Republican Governor of the state is pointing a finger at the election officials . IF Florida has a republican state house of Representatives and Governorship, and the Secretary of State are all Repubs., isnt the election planning and process all on them ?
4
Rick Scott is claiming mismanagement? Oh, you mean like when Scott "mismanaged" millions of dollars out of Medicare and Medicaid for his own personal benefit? You mean like that?
25
This is the very thing that makes people suspicious of media. This piece pretends nothing questionable happened at all and ignores a host of contrary evidence. Snipes on Friday was reprimanded by a judge for failure to follow the law and ordered to comply. There are questionable ballots added in with the rest under her direction. She admits that that would be better than invalidating the good ballots she mixed them in with. There are legitmate questions about chain of custody of ballots. Please do better. It helps no one to support incompetence (at best) by papering over it and it destroys confidence in both the press and our system of voting to cherry pick information. The only person driving any suspicion is the person who is suspicious, not those who are calling attention to it.
3
It does not mean you can just call the election either.
@TD You seem to have lots of inside knowledge...Share with the Florida Govt. officials and Judges .
1
@Paul
You could read it yourself, if you choose. That is all I did.
Rick Scott is an EXPERT on Fraud.
When he was CEO of HCA, it perpetrated the largest MEDICARE Fraud in US History.
When asked what he knew and when he knew it, Scott took the 5th Amendment over 70 times.
Sure, Washington, please take Dreck Scott off our hands.
18
A harbinger of what 2020 will look like.
4
For you non-Floridians: The ballots are NOT counted at Democratic headquarters, no matter what Rick Scott might tell you.
13
Why is Scott claiming voter fraud? Because as one person wrote, he's mimicking Trump -- the Chief Whiner of the US. It's part of the GOP playbook. Whine, lie and throw everything at the wall in the hope that something will stick. The GOP are the biggest spreaders and creators of FAKE news.
13
What an idiot Scott is. If you're going to "fix" an election as he accuses the Democrats of doing, you do it at the beginning, not during a recount. That way even if you have a recount the tallies match. Now look at the Florida races. It looks like EVERY one has a Republican lead getting narrower and narrower. That tells me the Republicans didn't put the fix in high enough to begin with so the Democrats would not be able to contest it and now they are being caught out as the real ballots are recounted. Republicans should make sure they get landslides in the future (joke)
8
"But it was too late"--for what? For the Times to call out distortions and lies for what they are? For the headline writers to think twice before they reward propaganda? I should hope not.
"Abuse of power" seems to be the latest mantra of the Trumplicans. Now that Trump has, so he thinks, made crime (as well as hate- and fear-mongering, denigration, mysogyny, philandering, lying and treason) legal as well, we can expect a "going out of business" sale from what is left of the Republican party.
I would welcome those few remaining "good" Republicans - you know, the ones that actually care about our NATION and not their own belly buttons and narcissistic power plays) - to form a new political party from the post-Trump ashes off American destruction. Good dialogues are hard to come by these days and intelligent thought is so lacking in this dumbed-down, fascist Trumplican universe.
The 2020 cycle should show Trump thrown to his own wolves (if he is not already in jail) and a new era of truly American progressive politics ("progressive" meaning that which makes progress) in a world in which we play our role amongst many and where we can meaningfully set high standards for human evolution. We are certainly not doing that now.
3
What's happening in Florida seems part of a more general problem of very close elections, the result of an increasingly polarized electorate. (Republicans seem to be encouraging polarization, probably because they have nothing constructive to offer non-wealthy Americans.)
Electoral systems have an inherent margin of error, like the noise the electronics in a receiver introduces to a radio signal. The decentralization and diversity of American electoral systems introduces even more error or noise.
In the past, election results usually had a high enough margin to overcome the inherent error rate. The signal voters sent was strong enough to clearly overcome the noise-- a high signal-to-noise ratio. But with today's polarized electorate, the winner's margin is often small enough to approach or even be less than the margin of error. The signal is so weak that noise becomes significant or even drowns it out-- a low signal-to-noise ratio. Florida seems to have a particularly noisy "receiver," but elections elsewhere also have very narrow margins.
The problem is particularly acute in presidential elections, where the Electoral College is intended to amplify, filter, and clarify the collective national vote. But the distribution of electoral votes ends up amplifying noise in close elections, which is how we ended up with Bush and Trump as "minority" presidents.
We really need to reduce the noise in our electoral system to reflect the current polarized electorate.
4
The fear is that a fair recount could easily in such a close election result in the decision going to the opponent. There is no respect for the will of the voters. Gaining and keeping the office is the only purpose. Bad for our democracy but people like this one could not care less.
Actually, the Republican Party has become a paranoid tribe that sees the rest of the country as existential enemies. They are going to destroy our republic with their paranoia towards everyone else.
8
Every vote counts, including the absentee military ballots.
This is another example of Trump disrespecting the military.
.
8
@lucretius
And of course he already proved that by refusing to serve in it.
Oh Florida.....thanks to Rick Scott and the rest of the GOP, you'll be underwater in no time and we will no longer have to deal with you.
6
I don’t understand why each race has to be recounted separately. The original counting of votes would not have been performed that way. Why not run all ballots through one time and see what the results are for each race that is being recounted.
1
Because there is an ongoing history of Democrats trying to overturn elections, that's why. Both Scott and DeSantis were ahead by tens of thousands of votes. Gillum, who is nothing if not a fighter, conceded. This is not a recount but an attempt to overturn an election.
3
Republicans steal and gerrymand and then complain when Democrats catch them.
8
@Mike Livingston
"Because there is an ongoing history of Democrats trying to overturn election"
Evidence needed, and not from "Faux and Fiends".
1
@Mike Livingston
What? Show me your evidence otherwise I will think you are just spreading lies. So far the only evidence we have is of republican suppressing thousands of voters which is unconstitutional and dirty rotting cheating.
1
It's right out of Trump's crooked play book. As HE said, "I'll accept the results of the election if I win". Words of a petulant narcissist would-be dictator who thinks he is above the law.
Well Donald, and all you Trumplican acolytes that worship Roy Kohn and lie like thieves, WE the people are holding you to facts and will count every single ballot and uncover any irregularities to insure fair elections. Notice that I did NOT say Democratic victory; just FAIR. I have great confidence that truth will out and your despicable ploys will be silenced appropriately. WE deserve better, and WE will get it. Enough of this narcissistic criminal manipulation of OUR rights.
5
Why is the governor of Florida claiming fraud? Because he knows that he can only lose in a legitimate election...after all, it's the republican way. They can't win anything without cheating.
5
The GOP defines voter fraud as an election in which popular voting is allowed, encouraged, and legally accessible. It defines this as fraud especially when they are in danger of losing an election.
They are classic autocrats: you have the right to vote for me, and if you don’t, I have the right to end vote counting while I am ahead to “protect the will of the people” who voted for me.
11
@In The Belly Of The Beast Charlie Crist to me is responsible for this mess when he signed legislation to go back to optical scanners.
Broward County...it IS either incompetence or out right fraud. First hand experience with Brenda Snipes in Broward - With 2 "independent registered" voters in our home, Broward County, on 2 voting occasions, lost BOTH of our mail-in ballots. In previous years Snipes has had more votes than voters in Broward as well as "dead people" somehow casting their votes. Fast forward we have Gillum (& others) reving up crowds by claiming "minorities' need to be heard and all votes must be counted...but thats not the real issue, is it? This type of incompetence AND fraud exists all over but Brenda and Broward County are just that blatant. Snipes needs to be held accountable, like any dirty politician.
1
In our system the application of the assumption of innocence is much more than the criminal defendants right to be considered innocent at trial. It also involves not making specious accusations without having credible evidence at hand to present when you raise the issue. Otherwise you are undermining the system without any evidence to justify the suspicion you are trying to cast.
When one says "count every vote" it is a given that this means every legal vote. The commie technique the GOP is using here by adding the superfluous "legal" to the phrase is a passive aggressive way to introduce the idea of fraud without having to produce evidence of the claim. They have been doing this passive aggressive undermining of our system for so long they have gotten lazy as was shown by Mr Scott's ridiculous and shameful direct accusations of Senator Nelson himself engaging in fraud.
3
Why is Rep Gaetz quoted in this article? He does not represent Broward County and has no business sticking his nose into our business. Its apparent to me that he does not care about Broward voters and ensuring that our election systems are effective and efficient. His goal is to ensure enough Broward votes are uncounted to allow the Senate and Governor races to fall to the Rs. His intent is fraudulent. He is entitled to his opinion but not to be quoted in a NYT article about votes from Broward County. That was irresponsible. We actually have several representatives and many many voters, Democratic, Republican, and others who care about what's going on and Gaetz does not speak for us.
4
@DEBORA WHITE Neither Scott, Rubio or Trump has any business opening their pie holes about the election. Florida is following its own election laws.
6
Gov. Scot knows he's about to lose the race if the recount goes forward. Let's find out...
4
Why can't the Democrats in Broward County and Palm Beach County conduct an honest election? Democrats engaged in sloppy processes that a judge found violated both state law and the Constitution? Democrat Brenda Snipes has a history of botched elections that call into question the honesty of the electoral process in her domain. The mere appearance of impropriety is devastating to the electoral process.
5
Is the headline a real question? Because if all votes were counted as the voters intended he might very likely lose.
7
"Palm Beach County’s elections supervisor, Susan Bucher, said that her county’s machines are too old to conduct three full recounts as quickly as required, and the county would be unable to meet the deadline on Thursday." We say that we value Democracy but we are unwilling to pay for it, that's an ugly truth.
6
Question: Why is Scott claiming fraud?
Answer: Because Scott is a fraud.
Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997. During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs.
On his departure, Scott was paid $9.88 million in a settlement, and left owning 10 million shares of stock worth over $350 million. HCA was left to pay for his crimes.
In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the United States government $631 million, plus interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition to $250 million paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare expense claims. In all, civil lawsuits cost HCA more than $2 billion to settle; at the time, this was the largest fraud settlement in American history.
No wonder Scott is Trump's kinda guy.
10
why isn't the lede
Again, GOP makes entirely false and unfounded claims about voting.....
why is the NY Times not treating these claims with the scorn that they deserve ?
Just imagine if a socialist democrat made these claims
if you think I am exaggerating...
https://twitter.com/abfrancois/status/1061735941864386561
2
Scott forgets that he was the won in charge. Governor. i believe. in fact.
2
Why? Maybe because dozens of thousands of votes were "found" after the election. Maybe it is the sworn affadavit of a now former employee sworn statement that she saw workers filling out ballots? Maybe it's that the new votes were 80% for the dems? Just maybe because Ms Snipes ignored 2 court orders? Maybe that she refused to let in republican electoral watchers/attorneys in?
But I waste my time...the narrative must rule.
1
Outdated voting machines, poorly designed ballots, and the Russians all pose a problem to the integrity of our vote. Florida obviously has had problems with voting for years. I do not know who is responsible, but, it is time for Florida to get its act together.
2
As an outsider, I continue to be bewidered that the United States can achieve so much in high technology - computing, space flight, avionics, etc - but seem completely in capable of doing something as simple as running an election. Come on guys, it isn't that hard. People vote. You count the votes. Yes, all of them.
7
@Michael O'Farrell It’s because we still use systems that are the equivalent of filling out a standardized test with a number 2 pencil. We used touch screens for a short time in my state but people claimed, without proof of irregularities, that they were prone to hacking.
@Michael O’Farrell- The US absolutely is capable of running a legitimate election. The problem is that the Republican Party consistently opposes any move to that would help ensure the integrity of our elections. They’ve essentially gutted the Federal Elections Commission.
2
@Michael O'Farrell
Ya think?
Democrats whining as usual, even with the recount the numbers will not push them ahead......go home!
@There They claim they want all votes counted. When that is done they want all votes recounted. Once that is done, they want a manual recount. It’s an endless process in hopes that human error or machine error will change the result. The more humans intervene, the more flawed the process becomes.
@There You forgot the GOP attempts at turning voters away from the polls by use of shorter hours, fewer polling places and also disqualifying as many minority voters as possible. "Red Tide" Rick Scott is the chief pusher for these tactics. But De Santis has joined in with both feet. Shameful!
4
@There
Actually, we are home. Or didn't you realize this is AMERICA? -- Sounds like somebody needs to read the U.S. Constitution.
And remember Scott is an expert on fraud having been forced out of his job heading a health care company that under his leadership was found to be guilty of the biggest Medicare fraud in history.
6
For goodness sake! The ballot in Broward County is a joke. Could you make it more confusing? The senate election should be redone. Just as it should have been done in the presidential election of 2000. How is it we do not have a standardized ballet for elections and one method of voting nationwide? I have only known levers and buttons since I began voting 47 years ago. I never felt my vote was not counted using these methods.
2
The actual fraud is hiding ballots from Democratic districts so they are not counted, not counting the absentee and early voting ballots, a deliberate slow count so the courts step in like with Gore v Bush, and keeping people on board that are not competent so there would be someone to blame if things did not go their way. The Republicans knew it would be close, but they figured the Dems would be ahead, not them. So they were ready with the messaging and accusation. But now that they are on top, they have to stop the count. What we are seeing is messaging that has already been prepared, but confusion over who committed the fraud. They are saying all votes should be counted (if they were losing), but since they aren't they should be saying, stop the count, but they can't. Maybe the courts will stop the count like with Gore v Bush.
2
The Governor of Florida is claiming fraud since he knows all about fraud. He committed fraud against Medicare and was never held accountable.
5
"Why Is the Governor Claiming Fraud in Florida’s Election?" Because Floriduh's governor is a Republican, and the Republicans now consist entirely of the paranoid right. So, Hofstadter. They cheat because in their paranoia, they think there are all these conspiracies against them, so they fight back by doing what they believe in their fevered brows the other side is doing. It's all nonsense, but a lot of them believe it. It's also conveniently self-justifying.
5
Democrats simply cannot understand why there might be some skepticism surrounding the elections in Florida. But let's illustrate it in a slightly different way--and see if Republican concerns can be understood.
Let's say we were talking about Texas. Let's say that Beto O'Rourke was hanging onto a slim majority in the Senate race--but that two very conservative-leaning counties kept finding more uncounted ballots. They have suddenly found some in closets, in the trunks of cars, in the back of a school bus...and they all seemed to be favoring Ted Cruz. Not only that, we find out that the guy in charge of quantifying the election results was a Republican--and that he had previously been sanctioned for his handling of ballots. Would Democrats be a little nervous that the election was being stolen--as the advantage continued to narrow with each new discovery of ballots?
The above scenario is essentially what we have in Florida. Out of 67 counties, 65 have reported their results--with no issues. But the two most Democrat-friendly are making new ballot discoveries every day. Is there fraud? Who knows--but we do know that illegals have voted in Dade and Broward Counties--and that Democrats want those votes to stand.
I think its's safe to say, based on recent happenings--Democrats don't care one bit--if the election is legal, if all the ballots are legal, if all the voters are legal. They just want power. So what should be our confidence level? Zerro dot zero.
2
I agree that we should practice skepticism. However, that includes the stories that you are relating and Scott’s claims of fraud: there’s not an iota of proof of any of it.
It’s not right to pretend Scott is just being skeptical when he has already declared himself the winner and everyone else to have practiced some sort of unnamed fraud. He’s either believing something just because he wishes it were true or out and out lying.
4
Block-chain, unique voter ID numbers, and paper receipts seem like it would solve a lot here. But I guess that's only for important things like banks, not votes in a democracy ...
5
@Ken You are 100% correct. Paper ballots create more issues than they resolve. The more human interactions there are the more the system is broken.
Nonsense, John. Computers can be hacked.
@John
Show me your evidence of paper ballots creating more issues? Where do you get your information? Oregon has voted this way for decades and we have fair elections with quick outcomes. Everyone gets to vote in Oregon not just white republicans.
1
The whole country needs mail in ballots.No problems in Oregon since we started many years ago.
4
How is it possible that damaged votes are transferred manually to a clean ballot by election workers? Shouldn't the process be to COUNT MANUALLY instead of transferring to another ballot to be machine read!! That is Banana Republic practice.
5
He is claiming fraud because he is a criminal and a traitor.
He has no proof or he would have offered it. This is simply another republican use of communist tactics to get what they want with no regard at all for the harm it causes to anyone.
5
Scott had 8 years as governor to fix Florida's notoriously broken voting system. Now he's mad?
11
He's claiming fraud because he's afraid the votes will show that he's lost and he is determined to use any fraudulent means to win.
8
Why is he claiming fraud?
Because he might loose. And because democracy might break out all over the place if we had recounts and fair elections!
5
The Republicans didn’t cry foul in 2000 when they stole the election from Al Gore. So, I’m not impressed by their crocodile tears now.
5
@Glevine Actually, it has been shown that the recount, as requested by the Gore campaign, would still have ended with the same result. Gore would still have lost.
‘It has been shown.’ Sources please.
3
Why does electoral "fraud" only exist when Reoublicans are threatened?
For a Party intent on voter suppression,claims of "fraud"when its candidates are in trouble, ring,at the very least, hollow.
8
Hasn't the person who is Election Supervisor in Broward County the same one who a Court found violated a number of State Laws when she destroyed ballots the Court had ordered by preserved, and turned over to Wasserman-Schult's opponent? Shouldn't that be reason enough for a concerned Republican to question if cheating is happening? Especially when that same Supervisor of Elections declines to state how many ballots were even cast when asked? Overall impression I am getting is Democrats feel like they were cheated in Florida in 2000, so its ok if they cheat in 2018. Kind of same tit-for-tat mentality they used to justify the Kavanaugh fiasco
3
By ‘Kavanaugh fiasco’ do you bestowing a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court to a man who committed perjury multiple times during his confirmation hearings? Yeah, that was a fiasco.
Florida: The state (and not the only one) of GOP election hypocrisy. Let us not forget the gerrymandering and the voter registration purges committed by former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, under Governor Jeb Bush, as both tried (successfully) to deliver Florida to brother GWB in the 2000 presidential election. There were similar oddities in 2004. And the legacy continues. The real fraud is Rick Scott, who is likely outraged that his current gerrymandering efforts were not more effective.
4
"The national Republican Party accused Broward County’s supervisor of elections, Brenda C. Snipes, of “incompetence and gross mismanagement”...,"
and,
"Florida’s protracted 2018 midterm election has revealed the warts of an imperfect voting system that normally go unnoticed. This time, the world is watching, and South Florida election officials are being exposed for sloppy processes...."
Seriously? As a poll worker (not in Florida) I'm appalled that the Press and the Republican Party, both of whom demand that we all get the ballots processed at the speed of light and then spend the hours and days afterward accusing us of fraud, "sloppiness", mismanagement and just about everything a professional chatterer can accuse a group of mostly volunteers of, aren't collectively ashamed of themselves.
Name a single journalist or Republican congressman who spent the entire day assuring people that they told had to vote provisionally that their votes would be looked at and if valid they would be counted, or spent the poll night in a mad rush to count everything and get it to the registrar's office so it could be run through the tallying machines in time to feed an extremely demanding network of press and party officials.
In our county, it says right at the top of everything that it can take as many as six weeks till the final count is certified. So you people in the press, and people like the less than ethical Matt Gaetz accusing people of crimes need to back down and shut up.
1
It's Florida--too many retired from New York City, bringing their DNC Politburo values?
1
@Alice's Restaurant
Florida retirees from New York City and other cold climates are generally conservatives. Large retirement communities such as The Villages deliver the Republican vote time and time again.
2
@Lynn in DC
Been there--know a few, not a Republican among them. But keep the fantasy going.
@Alice's Restaurant
You've obviously been in the wrong parts of Florida -- take another look at the election map. There are solidly Red/Conservative districts...especially in the Northern part of the state.
Broward County is not reporting boxes and ballots as required, it all smells quite fishy down there. Let's have transparency and accountability.
1
Claiming fraud in Florida is a typical Trump strategy. Republicans hope that when the actually fraud is found it will be blamed on the Democrats not the ones that actually committed it, they themselves.
2
And Ivanka just got herself a patent for voting machines from China. Could these people BE any more brazen?
10
Q: Why are the governor (and the president) claiming fraud?
A: Because lying works. Trump is the living proof.
8
I am in favor of an outside recount of Trump’s taxes, after the government’s audit of them is begun and completed.
11
Why? That is a rhetorical question right? He might not win by counting all of the votes.
6
Isn't this how GWBush snatched the presidency by having the Supreme Court stop the recount in Florida? This is an old republican trick that has worked in the past and if Trump goes to the Supreme Court to make it stop this time, there's going to be a massive uprising.
14
Shame on the NYT. The truth is not more complicated. The truth is the GOP does not want to count all of the ballots. That is the truth. The truth is every republican claim of voter fraud is utter nonsense with no basis in reality. It is time newspapers start calling a lie a lie.
14
All of the comments here about the GOP and elections are spot on. And if you want to talk about inciting violence and stirring up the mobs, this president deserves the prize for the stupidest remarks that I have ever heard from a sitting president. And I first voted in 1972. But I have to mention this. Having traveled
through Florida from top to bottom on my many vacations from Michigan, I wonder about this. The state government in Florida can take a photo of your license plate at 80 miles an hour and send you a bill a month later for using their roads but they can’t seem to get their voting system organized. Just saying.
11
They could if they wanted to. The Republicans just don’t want to.
Puting aside allegations of Fraud Florida has Direct Electronic Recording Devices without a paper trail. In Georgia all of the devices use this backward technology. Florida needs to use a marker based paper ballot everywhere. All ballots mail in or otherwise need to be of the same type. With such a system recounts are easy, machines can be tested, prior to the election and fraud is difficult. If Rick Scott paid attention to the integrity of the system beforehand, and ensured published testing then he would abide by the results. Post hoc accusations of fraud by a sitting governor who has responsibility for the electoral system is a new low.
9
“It’s not lost upon us that Broward County is a heavily Democratic county, hence there tends to be a political bull’s-eye on anything that happens here.”
The whole story, in a nutshell.
11
None of these comments here questioning the integrity of Scott or the GOP are going to matter if ultimately the Democrats are swindled (yet again) out of an honest and fair election. The time is NOW. And what we need is leadership from the Democratic Congress. I want to hear Schumer and Pelosi shouting from the rooftops, and garnering appropriate media attention.
7
"Republicans say that it is not mathematically possible for the Democrats to overcome the deficits they face in all three races under recount"
The Democrat in Agric race is actually ahead so there is no "deficit" to overcome??
4
I am really appalled by the childishness and bad faith exhibited by these so-called Americans. The Republicans are over the top confrontational in their rhetoric to the point of instigating more than violence, and the Democratic election officials in Broward are at best obscenely inept for decades, at worst corrupt.
The lot of them should be ashamed, but apparently nobody has any of that these days.
5
Florida (and Texas) have had close elections, for many reasons, for some time now. Both states have common reasons for this: massively growing populations, nearly-equal splits of political affiliations, significant gerrymandering, etc. This will not be the case going forward, in Florida at least, due to the referemdum the people voted in favor of granting former felons the right to vote. It is highly likely that the felons will tip the balance, overwhelmingly, to the Democrats in the future. And in Texas, that time is coming as well, as evidenced by the strong showing of Beto O' Rourke in the Senate election. All of this does not bode well for Republicans, not only in Congressional elections but in the Presidential as well.
3
The GOP through blatant gerrymandering, tampering with voting rights and mechanisms, and colluding with Russian meddling has become quite adept at stealing elections
4
Rick Scott is claiming fraud meanwhile isn't he in direct conflict of interest. Further I am disgusted with the behavior of our officials. I work for the State of Florida and meanwhile we receive constant training courses on how to treat the public and how to behave, all the dos and don'ts and then watching Matt Gaetz speak in the manner that he did to an older black man is unacceptable.
4
The Governor calls fraud now but was perfectly happy to eliminate thousands of Floridians for not having perfectly matched signatures. Why are these old machines being used in the democratic precincts? Perhaps they want excuses not to count these votes?
3
Republicans need to cheat to win. It’s as simple as that.
14
When you cheat, you think everybody else does too. Or...because we, Republicans, suppressed so many voters, kicked so many voters off the rolls, then you, Democrats, had to have cheated if you won because we, Republicans, rigged it.
Republicans cheat.
11
Mary is absolutely right. One also needs to look at recent primary elections between Putnam and Desantis. If I were Putnam I would be asking for an investigation of his own loss.
Filing lawsuits is what the governor office does, and leaving the public footing the bills. Its also what the Attorney General's office does as well, outsources to private attorney's costing the state a fortune. And getting law enforcement involved, especially FDLE whose commissioner is known to be a Scott supporter.
This is why we don't need corrupt officials in office and Scott just showed his real colors and I hope people who did vote for him realize now he would desert them for a price.
Democracy will only survive if people demand it and Floridians are demanding it and will accept nothing less. If they find a way to steal it as Bush did from Gore by not counting 15000 votes in Gadsden county or bypassing the House of Representatives for a Supreme Court ruling (which Trump has stacked in his favor, thank you Jeff Flake), Scott will not have an easy time in the Senate. We will push for an Ethics inquiry as well as Voter Fraud of his own.
6
Maybe politicians should start talking about good governance instead of flogging emotions and nonsense. Why can't Florida count ballots? Incompetent leadership. Why can't Florida design ballots that don't confuse voters. Incompetent leadership. These guys need to extract their attention from women's wombs, bathrooms, marriage, and every other personal decision that has nothing to do with good governance. Any state that can't even count votes needs new leadership.
1
It’s not incompetence; it’s corruption.
The real question is how many Americans were illegally kicked off voter rolls or denied their sacred right to vote. That’s where to vote fraud is!
3
I vote in Broward County and you have to have proper identification. You are then given the papers that you have to properly fill in with a pencil. These ballots have individual numbers and after you complete them you put them through a vote counting machine, you get a receipt that is identical to the numbers on the ballots. I don’t see how you could easily defraud this system without being caught, because the numbers are assigned to each individual voter. It seems like a good system where if there is fraud it would be caught. I don’t understand why recounts in close races is a problem especially if there appears to be fraud. Why have this elaborate system of verification of voting if you’re never going to use it? Who cares how long it takes? It’s not like they’re going to take office the next day. The only way fraud could happen is if the computers counting could be hacked and there is a paper trail for that, use it.
6
@Timothy Phillips: Your argument might hold for most of the votes but there are some votes that are not cast in this way, for instance, early voting ballots. The system of automatic fraud detection is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go the whole way. Agree with you that who cares how long it takes?
3
Of course the right thing to do would be to just admit that the whole thing’s an impossible snarl that can’t be disentangled and run special elections for Governor in Florida and Georgia, and Senate in Florida, but fat chance of that ever happening.
3
This year alone, Brenda Snipes has been reprimanded by the courts twice: once, in May, for illegally destroying ballots during the 2016 Democratic primary, in violation of both state and federal law; and again, in August, for illegally opening mail-in ballots in secret. Now Democrats would like to be rewarded for this incompetence and deception with a Senate seat and a governorship. When Governor-elect Ron DeSantis takes office in January, he should fire Snipes. Florida deserves better.
3
This country is in trouble everywhere. What's going in Florida merely shows it. All the con-ning in the world can't restore faith ... real faith, which democracy depends critically on. We are, often happily, paying the terrible price for incivility and gamesmanship; and we are, let's face it, in civil war through an unrelenting, multifaceted blame-game. It's odd that this doesn't make a difference to so many ambitious politicians who promise "the world" ... or at least a few extra dollars to mollify in their quest for power. Lip-service to service, if that. Even more odd, this doesn't seem to make a difference to all too many citizens ... unwittingly "cutting off their nose to spite their face" in strident dedication. Spite! Begs the questions: What are we about? Why is there so much fear?
1
There is one rule that I think may well apply in the Snipes accusations - "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence".
It sounds to me as if the system and the personnel involved in this count are not up to the task, and both should be under strong consideration for replacement after the election is over.
2
So, Florida Gov. Rick Scott so much as indicts his administration for failing to ensure an honest, efficient election--but thinks voters should elect him to the U. S. Senate, nonetheless.
And what if Scott should win the recount?? Will his claims of election fraud simply go away?
7
As Republicans reap the discord they have sown, they cry foul. In reality they are the ones who fouled the voting system. The only right thing to do is a recount.
They cry fraud too, when in fact, they are the ones cheating voters in some states. Look at Brian Kemp in Georgia, for example, where ballots were thrown out for minor discrepancies like a different version of the name.
Time and again, we've seen that voter fraud is an infrequent matter. But this tired claim is raised again and again by those who want to control the rest of us.
6
Florida and the GOP are very good at stealing elections!
6
Why are more people not generally outraged by lying, cheating, and dishonesty? Have we really regressed to a society where outcomes are more important than honor? I want to believe that I would be sickened if my preferred candidate was underhanded played dirty, and the impression I have of democrats, in general (there are always exceptions), is that they tend to not embrace sleazy politicians and look for better when they find bad apples in their ranks. By all appearances being sleazy, lying, hitting below the belt and other sorts of behaviors that we teach our children are inappropriate are considered signs of "toughness", or "strength" by the GOP base. Just imagine for a second what your mother would think if you ever behaved the way many of the national level GOP elected leaders behave today. It is not a pretty picture.
5
I've lived in Broward for years.....its definately DNC inspired vote fraud. Anybody that says otherwise has no idea what they are talking about.
2
There’s a lot to fall over sideways laughing at here, from the deliciousness of Rick Scott—Rick Scott!—claiming fraud, all the way to Trump’s typical lunatic bellowing.
And of course, how can you not enjoy seeing the Republicans who’ve been running the state for the last ten years bellowing about how the election system don’t work.
But I think mostest, I enjoy the conspiracists. My hat’s off to the nutjobs who’re furious about workers following policy and toting ballots in their own car or filling out torn-up ballots, as well as to the various FOX types screaming about a box of paper clips and staples and legal pads. And above all, to the bozo who drew 5%, and is shrieking about how he musta really won.
Comedy aside, just count the dern votes, okay? And it’s good that this time around this oarticular barn, the Democrats ain’t outting up with it.
2
You have reporters, don't you? As the governor for objective proof. If he has none don't fan the flames of divisiveness by reporting his lies.
2
If there is any fraud; its from the Democrats. Thank you.
5
Yeah, because Florida’s always been a model of how to run an impartial election. Perfeckly jake to oversee your own election fight in Georgia, too.
You’re welcome.
3
@Southern Boy Well, I guess that settles that.
By fueling bogus election fraud claims and calling for Florida’s election laws to be aborted, Trump and Scott are enemies of democracy and the Constitution. They don’t deserve any role in any American government.
3
Could he be expecting SCOOTUS to come to the rescue?
The Lady do the protest too much..... republicans certainly seem to be projecting .... they are the frauds ...
3
GOP/Trump game plan; LIE. Lie big and lie often. Count the votes . Ray Sipe
3
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi listed evidence of potential ballot fraud in her letter to the director of Florida's Department of Law Enforcement. The letter is posted on the Attorney General Office website at http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/GWRY-B6ESE6/$file/Letter+to+Swearingen.pdf
The main stream press is slipping.
We need the headline, "Broward County looks like a WAR ZONE!"
Every tragedy in America becomes a war zone. Let's give the voters and vote counters and protesters their day in the WAR ZONE!
Scott is screaming, "Voter fraud! Voter fraud!" because he's hoping that it goes to the Supreme Court, now that they have that part of the government rigged, too.
You will never hear any republican howling, "Voter suppression! Voter suppression!", even when they demand street addresses a week before the election and in a place where there are no street addresses, never have been, but, boy, do you need them now.....
Where's your "proof", Scott - because, for sure, we can all prove that North Dakota rigged their playing field.... so. where's your facts, Scotty-boy?
AMERICA: We need national VOTE-BY-MAIL!
Start the process NOW!
Stop being held hostage to these manipulative men!
And, remember: In the 2016 election there were only 4, count 'em, FOUR! cases of "voter fraud"!
Shame on you, Scotty!
4
Well if anyone is to blame Governor....were you not head of the Government of Florida for the past 10 years - so claiming fraud is maybe accusing your own government ummm am I missing something here....?
7
Every time Rick Scott speaks about this, He looks like a cheater. Just count the bloody votes and follow the rules..
7
Why are the Republicans claiming voter fraud?
To answer this question in the most appropriate vernacular--the middle school mindset that has come to dominate the American political commentary--he who smelt it dealt it.
Simple as that. Come on. These are the guys whose leader, to paraphrase a British headline, decided not to attend a ceremony honoring the American casualties of WWI because it was raining.
Don't over analyze it. Just because the fallout from these claims is so corrosive, undermining the peaceful acceptance of electoral outcomes, don't assume the motivations are other than petty. Just get ready for a wave of White Terror inspired, if not directed, by the Republican Party and it's leadership.
2
Republican (trump) playbook: claim fraud unless you win overwhelmingly, then claim everything was perfect.
3
This is all just manufactured outrage by the GOP. They are masters as these antidemocratic tactics. It's just another tool in their toolbox of ways to steal elections they can't win by the popular vote. Most people don't buy it and see right through it but that doesn't stop them from trying.
2
Why is the far-right Republican governor of Florida claiming fraud in an election where a Democrat is close to winning? Ironic how false allegation of crimes aren't something Republicans worry about when they're the ones making them.
2
I heard a question asked, why does this keep happening in Florida and the person that responded said because it's:
FLOR-IH-DUH
That being said you would think that RIck Scott during his tenure in office could have done more to improve the voting situation. I know that he tried restricting early voting. That doesn't count as helping the problem.
1
Rick Scott slithers around on Trump's coattails. He has been charged with Medicare fraud and his underlings went to jail. He slid out of that one. He was one of the worst governors Florida has ever had. Lying is an art with him. He has become a millionaire many times over as Florida governor. He now has an airplane and multiple mansions.
Meanwhile, our schools are underfunded. Scott cares nothing for the delicate environment of Florida. His republican legislators follow him in lockstep. He doesn't want the truth because it may backfire on him. He's power mad.
Brenda Snipes may be incompetent but no one has discovered any fraud. There have been no credible allegations of fraud as Scott has spewed out. Reminds me of Trump who lies all the time and on record.
Let's give us, the people, the time that is needed for an accurate recount. I don't want to be left with the feeling I had after the 2000 election. I don't live in any of the counties in question but am a Floridian and would like to feel proud of my state.
2
Scott, a man who knows all about corruption, having headed a corrupt health care organization, has had the golden touch. He took the money they gave him to leave the organization and has since more than doubled it as governor. The people of Florida, for the most part, know him for what he is: the master of chicanery.
2
Looks like we're stuck in the year 2000 time warp all over again. We haven't learned a thing since then have we?
Why fraud? How else does the GOP win? And this coming from the guy who should be in jail for his company stealing millions from the government. Just wait till we get our hands on Trumps tax returns!
1
I like Nancy Pelosi's response on Face the Nation on Sun, 11-11-18. Face the Nation - 11-11-18, this is from that interview: MARGARET BRENNAN: The president has been saying that there's election fraud in Florida. What do you think is happening in- in Broward County? ... DEMOCRATIC LEADER PELOSI: Well, yes to the second part, but let's go to the first part first. My experience with the president is that any time he charges somebody with something, he's just projecting what he might have done himself...
5
After Bush v Gore it was thought that Florida (& other States!) would improve their voting systems to prevent conflict & doubt during elections. Clearly, that hasn't been done. That has allowed the GOP to use their same 2000 play book on "fraud and corruption" claims against majority Democratic counties. Remove the doubt, then see who wins.
2
1. He’s worried 2. It worked in FL before 3. He knows he didn’t fix the problems from before. It looks like a long slog to the Supreme Court....
1
I assume your headline question is rhetorical because the answer could not be more obvious.
1
Voter fraud only exists...if it goes against Repubican candidates.
3
Typical Republicans! Nothing is ever a problem UNTIL it's a problem for THEM. I've got less sympathy for them than they do for the people they're supposed to serve.
2
This appears to be a good example of Florida's Republicans falling in line and imitating their fearless leader; when something shows up that doesn't support your preconceived notion of how you want the election to go, you just create a reflective lie, then repeat it loudly over and over until a fair number of your followers take it as truth.
3
Why Is the Governor Claiming Fraud in Florida’s Election?
Maybe because of:
-Staff members had made rulings themselves on questionable ballots that were supposed to be judged by a three-person panel.
-One candidate filed an affidavit in court from a fired poll worker who claimed this happened also in 2016
-the primary race against Ms. Wasserman Schultz in 2016 wound up in court, where it was revealed that Ms. Snipes could not perform a recount because the ballots had illegally been destroyed.
-The Broward elections office has come under intense scrutiny in the days since the election for failing to continuously report its vote tallies. Florida law requires results on election night to be updated every 45 minutes until the counting is complete, with the exception of provisional and overseas ballots.
1
Scott, DeSantist and Gaetz are eager to stop the vote counts when they are slightly ahead, instead of having an orderly process. More generally, the GOP in Florida are constantly trying to disenfranchise the minorities in the state. This is not a secret--anything but!
4
Can't stand how the GOP has completely swallowed and adopted the DJT approach: lie, deny, attack. If the Florida recounts are being conducted in a fair, bi-partisan manner (by representatives of both Dem and Rep parties), what, exactly, do those pouting-and-protesting Republicans fear? Their lying, denying, and attacking approach is embarrassing and disgusting to all Americans. Stop, already. And those threatening tweets from our brave, glorious, but not waterproof President? (Sarcasm intended!) Ignore 'em! Most of the world does.
3
Chances are Scott probably won at end, so why not let it legally play out to further claim victory?
Oh wait. Scott is an insurance fraudster who bought his way out of jail. Moving on.
3
Rick Scoot should know fraud if he sees it. Scott was part of the largest Medicare fraud case in history and narrowly escaped prison.
1
Why is Scott crying foul? Because it looks better than just plain crying.
1
Matt Gaetz posed with a bunch of boxes labeled "ballots". Were they a prop or actual ballots? The writer never says.
I would genuinely like to know.
1
Republicans seem to feel entitled to win every election by divine right. If they somehow lose, it has to mean cheating was involved. After all, all their friends are Republicans, they don't know any Democrats, how could those people win?
Sort of like their close analogs, the Evangelicals. Theirs is the only true religion, so they can't fathom why anyone wouldn't want it rammed down their throat.
So afraid of losing. It seems if he is governor of the state then he is responsible for any fraud & election misdealings. Why are the ballots not easily read by the voter? Why are they designed differently from county to county? Clear & simple...voter suppression by the republican party & governor. The "Buck stops at the top" you guys. You are not trump so cannot claim innocence. The "governor" & therefore the "state" is guilty of fraud, deception, & miscounts. They are guilty if the ballots cannot be read & voter make their choices in an uncomplicated manner.
1
Mischief is the word that James Baker used early on in the 2000 Bush-Gore to sew distrust of the Democrats.
Actually, it can be complicated to understand a ballot. Even one well laid out. I suggest testing ballot designs with junior high students to provide feedback on how they understand it.
And ballots from prior elections can be used to educate all students prior to their becoming voters.
I am an adult with a college degree and have problems with instructions and signage. I have often wished that I were in charge of such things to lower the possibility for confusion.
2
The ballot design in Broward County is once again in question. If voters weren't sure about how to vote for the senate candidates, why wouldn't they have asked the poll workers for help? You would think they knew that this was a senate race too. Why can't they design a simple ballot? It is not rocket science.
Sadly, we have far too many people incapable of critical thinking. Yes,all those undervotes should have triggered questions like “ where are the Senate choices?”, but they didn’t. Poor ballot design cost Florida one more time. This time a Senator. Last time a President.
In the big scheme of things, the number one priority should be to get all votes counted. Sure, it is quite possible that there were failures, technical and administrative, but that is no excuse for not counting all the people's votes. The Republicans are essentially trying to use these failures as an excuse to suppress votes and suppress democracy.
As an election judge for my county, a lot of the things reported as being suspicious, by those looking to score political points, are perfectly normal parts of the ballot counting process. For example, one of my jobs this cycle was duplicating ballots, most of them received electronically from overseas voters via a rigorous ID verification process. The votes have to be transferred to regular ballots so that they can be counted by the machines. We did this in teams of two, each of us with a different party affiliation. The ballots we duplicated are also numbered so that they can be checked for accuracy in a post election audit.
Absentee (mail) ballots have to be signature verified, again by teams of two judges with different party affiliations, and then opened, sorted in numbered batches, and counted. It takes time. If voters want it done more quickly they need to pay for many more election judges, county staff, and counting machines. However, nobody really wants that, right?
This is routine stuff for election judges and — in my state, at least — ALL of it is done under security cameras that run 24 hours a day for the entire election cycle. I have no patience for these politically-motivated charges of fraud. We do the best we can with the resources we have and if it takes time to do it right, so be it.
3
1. States are responsible for the electoral process in their state, so Trump weighing in this morning was national meddling in a state affair. 2. The Republican controlled legislature and executive, specifically I would think the Sect. of State in FL (if it's like the state I live in) were responsible for the election. If there were voting issues that needed to be addressed, that should have been done prior to, not after the election. Like in GA >:(
This isn't the first time Florida has had problems with counting ballots. Gov Rick Scott has to have been aware of the past problems. So my question to the governor is this: How much money did you have the state allocate to address these concerns before the election? When I got into management I remember a quote, that has held true throughout the years: Inspect, don't expect. So again Gov Scott, how much did you allocate to help prevent this situation from happening again?
2
It's beyond me why Florida cannot come up with a uniform system throughout the state, or why there isn't an investment in up-to-date voting methods. Why hasn't there been a serious look into this since 2000? I think it benefits those in power to have nothing but chaos.
If it is this questionable, it is time for a do-over for those special people in Florida.
Complete with UN-appointed poll watchers who have had experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or perhaps the Carter Center could send election advisors.
We certainly are in no position to judge the accuracy and honesty of elections in other countries anymore!
1
In Arizona the Republicans are quite correct in expecting that every vote be counted with the greatest fidelity. I am not aware of any Democratic pushback to the process. But in Florida Governor Scott and others have allowed their partisanship demons full throated expression as they attack what is a legal process: a vote recount activated by a candidate's vote tally not surpassing a prescribed threshold of .5 percent. It is unseemly, and in my opinion slanderous to accuse someone of fraud for doing their job. Count the votes in as transparent a way as possible, and this time keep the Supreme Court out of it.
1
Don't knock it unless you've done it. Working the polls and counting the vote is the most thankless, exhausting (physically and mentally) job I've ever done and I've done it for a very long time now. You can't get into a routine because you only do this job once every now and then, usually with a two year break in between elections, and the rules change every time. And you certainly don't do it for the money. New technology certainly helps, but then comes the question 'Who writes the code that runs in the voting and counting machines?' As an ex-programmer, this is a very valid question. Also 'How secure is the SOS's election results system?' So quit complaining - we are doing the best we can and I assure you, voter fraud is a myth. Voter confusion is real. Working the elections is hard and the people doing it are not dishonest and are careful and nonpartisan. Also, it takes time to count votes - be patient.
3
Ms. Snipes has been accused, not just by the governor, but by disinterested observers, of mixing in illegal ballots, cast by non citizens, with legitimate ones. Not every "oui dire" turns out to be true, but the very SUSPICION that process is not being supervised COMME IL FAUT should be enough to make the determination that the first results giving the victory to Gov. Scott and 1 to Ron de Santis are the right and lawful ones. Likewise in Georgia, Candidate Abrams has even stated, practically invited those who r illegal to cast their ballots, and although I am the first to admit that Kemp is not the most "sympathique"of th current crop of politicians, and that rather he appears "antipathique," he deserves the victory that he has earned!
@Alexander Harrison - NOT.
1
@Alexander Harrison
"Candidate Abrams has even stated, practically invited those who r illegal to cast their ballots"
Really?? -- Or is this a fake news moment?
Show us the quote.
@N. Smith: ABRAMS was quoted on 1 of the cable news channels. But larger point to be made is that Democrats have, grosso modo, no problem with illegal voting so long as it favors them. In Cal., "indocumentados" sit on school boards, city councils, leaving 1 to wonder what the status of citizens is compared to the "uitlanders" who become more numerous and visible daily. Inhabit a "bicoque on Middle River in FLA. with" mah honeys," rescues from the bright continent, in Wilton Manors, where 1 seldom finds an English speaker involved in landscaping! Zero sum game: the greater the number of "indocumentados,"the lower the wages for everyone, which pleases the chambers of commerce throughout the nation, but not the citizenry. Cesar Chavez was opposed throughout his long career as a union leader to illegal immigration, had many of them beaten up because he understood how the game was played. Wake up and smell the coffee!
"she saw elections officials filling out blank ballots..."
I wonder for which side they were filling those ballots. Actually, I don't wonder at all.
1
Nothing new here. This administration has done everything it can to sabotage a balance of power. This is a state that has a history of Republican entrenched politicians and a an increasing diversity.
Perhaps if Florida spent money on encouraging voting, rather than spending it suppressing voting, they would not be under the spotlight now.
I don’t have any respect for Rick Scott .
His past is not very limpid , the origin of his fortune comes from an humongous Medicare fraud .
His environmental record is such that we have been scourged by red tide in Florida for an entire year , due to relaxation of environmental laws by Rick Scott to favor Big Agriculture.
No one can even imagine the devastation of our beaches with tons of poor dead fish , including dolphins, manatees and loggerhead turtles.
Rick Scott doesn’t deserve to sit in the US Senate.
3
Non partisan control of the voting process. Almost every other country understands this, why is the USA the outlier? It’s the root of 75% of all issues involving trust/distrust and competence/incompetence.
Republicans have every reason to distrust the motives of Democrats. And vice versa. Because of patterns of deliberate actions favoring their voter bases.
And machines are a bad idea. The higher the tech level, the easier it is to subvert or the more likelihood of mechanical or software failure. Pencil and paper ballot. Store, count, recount if necessary. Again, blindingly obvious.
2
Rick Scott, and everyone else trailing in a recount, is screaming fraud because they are about to lose if all the votes get counted. It’s an old play that only works with the true believers of the base.
Scott is claiming fraud because he knows it will work. Better to run the clock out blaming, filing lawsuits, claiming fraud than to stand up and ask that every vote be counted. A better question is why is it typically Republicans who want to stop counting votes (Bush v Gore) and Democrats who call for every vote to be counted. And why didn't Governor Scott fix his state's voting problems during his eight years in office?
1
Because many people will believe him, without any official evidence.
Every one of Scott's wins have been very close, The odds of the GOP winning every tight election are statistically not there. Its the GOP that has fudged totals in North Florida where they are reporting some of the highest turn-outs in the country, while initially South Florida has low turn-outs. This is how the GOP always win these races. Total votes for Democrats in house races statewide exceed those for the GOP, so how many of these voters would their vote GOP. It is proof the GOP;s will to destroy democracy. JEB destroyed votes from 2000 so there could never be verification. Right now state law calls for the recount the GOP wants to block. Scott tried to pack the Fla Supreme Court before the election. He is one of the most corrupt and tainted politicians in the country.
2
I would like to know whether sufficient funds are budgeted by the State of Florida to the most populous counties to assure that they are in a position to count votes effectively in a high turnout election. And, if not, what is the reason for not making sure that weeks before Election Day that adequate funding and appropriate personnel are place for the process. In counties that have large numbers of elderly voters what is done to make the ballot user friendly? Florida needs to answer these questions before 2020. Nearly 7% of the voters nationwide cast their votes in Florida, this seems like a national issue.
10
"Why is the Governor Claiming Fraud..?" For the obvious reason that it is to his advantage, pure and simple. As, I imagine, are most of his actions. You have to remember how he became so rich: defrauding Medicare and Medicaid to the tune of a total $1.7 billion. And as CEO he walked away with some $200 million as a bonus gift. He began his Senate campaign by crying the only way to fight corruption in Washington is to term limit Senators i.e. Bill Nelson has to go so he can take his job. He has continued to benefit himself greatly while governor of FLorida: new mansion on the west coast and private jet. His last election add features senior ladies discussing how Senator Bill Nelson must be losing his marbles (not). So his career has been based on fraud to a large extent. Oh, yes--and then there is the fact that he has sole authority to revoke voting rights from those who have rehabilitated and served their terms: practically no one of color ever gets their rights back. He has packed our watchdog groups with his cronies and our waterways now are the sickest they have ever been and now a hazard to human health.
And remember how very successful (Bush vs Gore) state edict preventing ballot counting was for the Republicans via Katherine Harris. Why in a democracy is it ever considered alright to prohibit votes from being counted for your own benefit?
237
@Mary One mustn't forget his reversal on the high speed rail initiative once a company he had stock in decided to take it up, his miraculous blind trust that is anything but blind, or his offshore tax free investments. That is what makes him a good businessman, just like Trump......
22
@Jwinder It has always been a mystery to me how could Floridians ever elect such a questionable character. His dubious way of getting rich, as CEO of a company found guilty of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid, should have been a more than sufficient reason for the many retirees living in Florida distrust him. He was either complicit or a very poor manager!
9
I tend to believe the Gail Collins theory: Florida’s problem is due to the closeness of the vote. In other locales, those last few ballots never need to be counted because the winning margin is so great. The counts and recounts would be just as complicated and ugly elsewhere.
FYI, I voted in Broward County and had no difficulty with the layout of the ballot, although it was 9 pages long.
89
@Frances Menzel 9 pages? Why?
7
Many ballot initiatives (common in Florida), plus judges, county officials, and local officials on the ballot. I voted by mail and spent a couple of hours doing so. FYI, I was able to track my vote on the internet and see when it was received and tallied.
15
@Frances Menzel ~
Same is true in Cook County, Illinois, especially with the loit of judges to be retained.
For the first time in three decades we actually ousted an incompetent judge.
7
Why is Scott claiming fraud? Because Trump is his mentor. Scott is a faithful protégé. Let’s not forget he was the two term governor who had plenty of time to address and fix Florida voting problems but he did nothing as the state leader. But like Trump, his boss, he is now crying foul.
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@KJS
He's claiming fraud just to continue Trump's agenda of discrediting and render the democrats illegitimate.
10
@KJS - Scott can't even rig an election competently. Why has the voting system not been improved since first learned of "hanging chad"?
5
Rick Scot was governor for 8 long years. He could have improved the elections process and updated systems but he didn’t. Take as long as necessary to count ALL VOTES or fraud is on Scott.
213
@Rita Clare same thing in Georgia. Kemp refused federal assistance to address security issues with the voting processes in his state. Now he is crying foul & continues trying to suppress the voters & their legally cast votes. He should have been forced to resign from election responsibilities once he ran for another office. He & Scott should have to sit down & shut up until all the votes are counted & recounted according to their state laws. Men if you lose you lose. Sorry. Man Up.
11
@Rita Clare And let's remember that in his two elections for Governor, Rick Scott never got more than 50% of the vote.
7
There is no evidence of voter fraud. But that hasn't stopped the angry GOP candidates from crying foul. Rick Scott is a hypocrite and a huckster. The reason Rick Scott wants unbridled growth at all costs is he needs infusions of new people who won't recall his scandalous United Health Care days, the so-close races he bought with his billions or the horrible mistakes as governor like turning away Medicaid money for Obamacare.
Florida law requires a recount. Period.
But then, when did Rick Scott let the law stop him?
159
@GMT Remember that Scott and the GOP in FL allowed the dumping of waste water into the Gulf of Mexico, with the result that "Red Tide" is destroying the beaches (and driving away tourists). This is yet one more reason why the GOP in FL are losing voters. Scott is "Red Tide Rick" in my view.
11
Rick Scott is an empty suit who knows plenty about fraud, especially when it comes to the fraud his company perpetrated on Medicare and the fraud of climate change denial, all for his personal and political profit. It is shameful that the my state looks like it will have two pigs at the trough like Rubio and Scott as it's Senators.
170
The republican playbook for voter suppression and fraud is coming into focus after repeated manipulations of ballots and votes.
The first step is always to get out there first to the Media and claim the other side has committed fraud. Scott and the GOPers subscribe to the credo the "best defense is a good offense" . So get out there and accuse them of what you know you are guilty of doing. Scott is trying to whip up hysteria with wild accusations flying everywhere.
It generally works on the public because they suspect somebody is cheating, so get out there first, and with a total absence of evidence, tell the Media it's those "unethical liberals"!! Yeah right. And I've got some swamp land I'd like to sell you as ocean front.
We know Rick Scott was the CEO of HCA that committed millions of dollars of Medicare fraud. He plead the fifth numerous times to avoid jail. And you question if he would cheat and rig the election?
Republicans have lost all credibility, they lie and say you did what they actually did, but you accused `them' first so you can get away with it.
Just listen to what they accuse others of doing and you will know what they are guilty of having done themselves. It's a hall of mirrors game.
181
@IntheFray "Just listen to what they accuse others of doing and you will know what they are guilty of having done themselves."
It is so frustrating and obvious. That so many cannot see this is insane.
14
@IntheFray: Unfortunately, "Republicans have [not] lost all credibility." Clearly, someone keeps voting for them, or the Senate would not be in Republican hands. Trump still has some support among the population at large. Your state is still up for grabs, it seems. So someone out there finds either the Republicans credible or the Democrats even more reprehensible.
1
Bill Nelson made the perfunctory charge that the Russians hacked the Florida election data base before the election. It turned out to be more unsubstantiated charges that Russians were interfering in the election. Which as it turned out was false. Now we have angry man Rick Scott sternly charging liberal big gov't perfidy. The truth is that the election has elections always work. The election was to close to announce a winner.
3
Why is Rick Scott so quick to call "fraud?"
Scott oversaw and enriched himself with millions of tax-payer dollars in one of the biggest Medicare frauds in history.
Unlike innocent people who simply look for explanations, Scott, Trump and their ilk quickly jump to fraud---because that is exactly what THEY do.
Why he isn't in jail is a disgrace.
15
Turns out trump was right- voter fraud is alive and well in too many states. In Republican states by Republicans and largely in the form of voter suppression.
Shame. Shame. Shame.
16
Just as in 2000, RWers want to stop votes from being counted because they hate democracy.
9
@Bill
I'm not sure they hate democracy as much as they fear it.
1
Rick Scott is still hampered by his own dealings with fraud in his previous life running the biggest single medicare scan in history at Columbia. The fact he was elected Governor of Florida was laughable, the fact he is crying fraud now is ironic.
9
Only in a Deep Red state like Florida would boxes of office supplies cause an uproar over "illegal" voting.
10
As someone who lives near Las Vegas and visits our casino's, I have never heard uttered ' it's fixed' by anyone other than a sore loser.
11
Trump's call this morning to stop the Florida recount is laughable and dangerous. All hail the mini-dictator! Forget law and justice, we have Donald Trump. Voter fraud? Looks like our Trump-in-Chief is the real fraud.
13
Like Donald Trump, some scared Republicans are now trying to do what the Russians tried to do earlier: shake Americans' faith in the integrity of our voting system. These are treasonous declarations made by Trump and many of Florida's politicians and should be treated as such by Congress when all of the false claims of voter fraud are shown to be the hoaxes that they will ultimately prove to be. Shame on them.
6
Fourteen paragraphs of Republican conspiracy theory about the Florida vote before a Democrat is quoted in this story? Seriously, New York Times?
We know that Republicans are very good at working the refs, but apparently the press is happy to help out.
Fourteen paragraphs!
5
The answer is obvious. These two counties have a large proportion of minoroties who tend to vote democratic because of Republicams' racist policies since the 196immigration law followed by Nixon's Southern startegy then followed by all Republican politicians, almost all white and Scott is White. No other explanation is needed. It is as naked and simple as that.
6
Rick Scott should be ashamed of himself and should be censured for attempting to interfere with the legally mandated re-count. His behavior is beneath the office to which he hopes to be elected.
5
@RLW You're writing from Chicago? About legal, honest re-counts??? C'mon now.
“For all I know, they’re still counting ballots for Al Gore back there!” Sounds like a Republican admitting that there were votes for Gore that nobody ever counted. Quite likely!
12
@Bob_Curry In late breaking news...it appears that Pat Buchanan just recieved 2000 votes for Senator from Florida.
The most likely reason Republicans in Georgia and Florida are in a panic is fear that their own illegal acts will be exposed.
Gillum was naive in conceding so quickly. He didn't realize racists believe they have the right to lie, cheat, and steal in order to win against any woman or person of color...
I would add that Beto made the same mistake. I would not be surprised if he won, and his concession is allowing a cover-up to occur in Texas.
5
@priceofcivilization Good Grief. Dont allow yourself to be the victim of political propaganda. What seems to be happening is an usurping of local politics by the Megalithic National Political Corporations, DNC and RNC. Neither of which has any interest in local representation, Both Political Corporations are only interested in POWER, a cynical manipulation of your best interests in order to achieve control over the Status Quo....which is currently taking us nowhere. Ralph Nader, circa 2005, "They all laugh at you."
I have always believed that every vote should be counted before any winner is announced. The fact that so many people feel disenfranchised is because they see no clear evidence that their vote matters. If people are aware of how close so many races are, they would realized that their vote does matter. If Al Gore had waited for a vote count he would have been president. I'm with Stacey Abrams, make them count every single vote.
I am lucky to live in Colorado where voting has been made easier and more accountable. The whole country needs to join the 21st century and use all the technology at their disposal. We should move to a system like Australia where everyone is required to vote. The Republicans would hate that because they do not want everyone to vote and believe the fewer people that vote the better for them.
And, of course, the electoral college must go!
15
We don’t need an “election day” to be democratic. We need a system that encourages all eligible voters to vote without duress and have their votes counted without confusion. Let’s have 14 days of voting and 14 overlapping days of vote counting.
10
Maybe I have missed something but exactly what are the legal procedures for counting all ballots? Shouldn't this be spelled out for all the public to see? This should not be rocket science. And in any election, shouldn't the procedures be the same in every state and every county?
4
It is way past the time that Florida gets its electoral process in order and make it possible for ALL eligible voters to cast ballots in a legal and timely manner. Or, have more direct Federal oversight as the outcome of elections there impact the entire nation. Perhaps Florida should emulate Colorado or Oregon.
10
Why is Rick Scott screaming about these provisional ballots, as provisional voters are more likely Democratic. Seems counterintuitive.
5
@Kyle B Provisional Ballots are little more than Legallized Vote Fraud. A measure passed by the DNC, somehow, into national law. The only times provisional ballots get counted...are when it appears that the DNC approved candidate is losing. Check me out.
@Wherever Hugo I have checked you out, since I have seen one post and 5 extremely partisan replies, and no factual evidence to support your claims. You should actually look at why we have provisional ballots; it has nothing to do with the DNC, and everything to do with voter disenfranchisement, which is much more a Republican thing.
1
@JwinderBy partisan replies, I assume you mean, comments that dont immediately agree with your own extremely biased narrow opinions. Thank you for reading, though. My intent is to rattle your cage and make you THINK about whats really going, possibly for the first time in fifty years of your life. Do NOT accept the story as presented to you. Dont.
Florida needs the state of Oregon - voting system, as it is all online. paperless vote from anywhere.
5
@Bob you are correct that Florida - and most other states - should emulate our system here in Oregon; but you are mistaken about online voting. For over 2 decades we have done all our voting by mail. Ballots are mailed 3 weeks before the election and can be returned either by mail or in one of hundreds of convenient secure drop boxes in all the communities. No counting problem, no fraud, paper trail, no possibility of making it more difficult for people to vote, and less expensive. Some other states such as Washington and Colorado have a similar system.
Our Senator, Ron Wyden, will be introducing a bill to encourage this type of system in all states.
3
I live in Oregon and I dropped my paper ballot off at a mailbox ballot station.
No online voting in any Oregon County that I’m aware of.
@Bob You are so right!
Representative Gaetz speculates that they are still counting ballots for Al Gore in Florida. Perhaps these are the same votes that went intentionally uncounted after the political Supreme Court decision in 2000 arbitrarily stopped the recount in order to present George W. Bush with the Presidency.
A lot of Americans would still like to know, in particular the families of the 4500 Americans who died in Iraq.
15
@Richard Williams MD As a doctor, surely you are intelligent enough to recognize that ALL recounts are forms of cheating. There is absolutely NO way to ever get a 100% accurate vote count. The laws of physics and quantum mechanics tell us this. The good ole Uncertainty Principal of one Dr. Heisenberg....explains that the more precisely we attempt to define one quantity...the less precisely we can define the related quantity. In the case of elections, vote count vs winner. As we attempt to precisely count votes....it is inevitable that the "winner" based on that vote count becomes LESS believable. Sorry. You're being manipulated by Political Corporations that have NO concern for you personally.
@Wherever Hugo Actually, it appears the doctor is intelligent enough to understand what triggers recounts, but also smart enough to know that all recounts are not cheating. The Heisenberg principle doesn't stand up in many instances, and this would be one of them.
2
Scott is screaming fraud because that is exactly what he would do to get elected. He is just like Trump in blaming other people because that is what you are doing.
10
Isn’t Scott in charge of the election process as governor? Seems odd that the buck would stop with anyone else. He is essentially admitting he failed as governor. Why would anyone in Florida want him as their Senator then?
6
Seems to me that Scott's actions as chief executive of Florida is completely in line with the Medicare fraud committed under his watch as chief executive of Columbia/HCA.
Tigers don't change their stripes.
6
If the recount isn't finished by Nov 15, then the original vote count stands. So Rick Scott is stalling the recount by frivolous lawsuits. Why isn't this being addressed by the media and lawyers?
9
Recounts only happen when the DNC approved candidate appears to be losing. Thats the only time that the DNC approved "provisional ballots" ever get counted/......legallized cheating. Open your eyes and pay attention.
1
Rick Scott and the Republican dominated legislature consistently cut the budgets of election supervisors and clerks of courts among others, making upgrades difficult and sometimes impossible. He flaunted public records requests from citizens and has been the most secretive governor since pre-1970 Florida when corruption was rampant. He and Bondi are going to whine their way into lie after lie to stir the public like Trump. Now they feel mis-treated? Hope he loses and don’t let the door hit you on the way out Ricky.
12
The accusations leveled by Mr. Rick Scott and other Republican leaders in Florida against the Democrats for presumably trying to cheat and commit electoral fraud constitutes the epitome of hypocrisy. Those are the same people who prevented a million and a half citizens of the State of Florida from exercising their right to vote. They disenfranchised them because at some point in their lives they made a mistake and ended up in jail, but they paid for their mistake and had re-joined society as free men and women, as citizens of this great country. Rick Scott and other Republican leaders stole the voting rights a 1.5 million Floridians, more than the entire population of several states. They took away their right to vote. And now they complain that Democrats ask for a recount and for assurances that every single vote will be counted. Hypocrisy pure and simple. Or worse. Maybe they are trying to steal yet another election. After all, didn’t Mr. Scott learn a thing or two about the Art of the Steal in the way his old company dealt with Medicare?
8
I can’t believe these republicans. They must really be worried that recounting the votes by hand will show that they were the ones committing fraud. Why else would you spread lies and mass hysteria about it? And I just don’t get why anyone who calls themselves a patriotic America would allow votes that were delivered late not to be counted. Every single vote should count, regardless of when it arrives as long as it was filled out prior to the election. The democrats are the only ones who want a fair election and republicans are fighting tooth and nail to force many of Florida’s votes from being counted and stopping a manual recount by hand. If I were the one running I would want to make sure I won fair and square. But I see that these republicans running don’t have any sense of honor or fairness. Even if I was a conservative that would really bother me. How do you trust someone who doesn’t care if the race they supposedly won was questionable?
6
Irregularities and mis counts have been occurring since 2000 in Florida when the Supreme Court awarded George Bush the presidency. That's 18 years for Florida to get it right and they haven't.
9
Rick Scott *knows* he won the election. Said Scott - "I know I won, I stole it fair and square. We did everything we could to keep the wrong kind of people from voting, and we have long lines for their polls, I have to be the winner!"
9
So the Governor, sworn to faithfully execute the laws of the State of Florida, attacks those laws when they threaten his political ambitions.
By so doing he undermines public faith in the institutions of democracy. Nice!
6
Rick Scott is claiming fraud since he is so familiar with it. When he was CEO of Columbia-HCA (the largest hospital holding company in the world) he was forced to settle with the government the largest penalty for Medicare Fraud ever levied — $1.7 Billion. He also was terminated as CEO as part of the fraud penalty agreement. Guess the Florida electorate never cared about his “history.”
6
I think the reason the republicans are panicking is because they rigged the voting machines to increase the R vote count. Probably only a certain percentage of them in key places. And because of their general incompetence, they did not anticipate such a large number of absentee ballots to bring the result totals closer. During a recount there will likely be far bigger discrepancies than anticipated. Thus the accusations of fraud before it is even complete. They are not just afraid of losing, they are afraid they may get caught cheating.
5
I think that the GOP should be grateful that we have the money and time to go the extra mile to ensure that the correct person is declared the winner. I'm sure they'd hate to see one of their people in office when someone else had won the vote for that office. (Then again, given their proclivities for lying, cheating, and blaming the other guy, maybe not.)
This is another way for them to undermine government in this country. I wonder if they have considered their role in making American ungovernable and how it affects them. At some point they will be unable to get the votes they need to declare a victory and we won't care any longer. I know I don't. I'm tired of the Tyrant/Toddler in Chief's paranoia and self centered attitudes which have been taken up by the rest of the cast.
Grow up, it's about the country, not you and how many seats you have or how many racist remarks you make. You are not the most important people. The voters who are your constituency are.
7
This is the same old Trump/Republican strategy...deny everything, accuse the accuser, make public accusations of fraud with no evidence to support it, claim a Democratic conspiracy, always blame Hillary and Obama, distract people's attention with 'cries of illegal immigrant invasion', use the military as publicity-pawns on the southern border, accuse the media of being the Enemy of the State and Fake News, blame Michelle Obama, and constantly tweet nonsense in the hope that people will get lost in all the noise.
Florida, Georgia, and Texas: just count the ballots!
49
As a distraction from the fact HE committed fraud by voter suppression.He has a history of being hopelessly dishonest by robbing Medicare...you can't go much lower than that.The powers that be in FLA. have always been dishonest..hanging chads anyone??
15
@susan mccall The New York Times is also dishonest. Read the story again. It goes on for 14 paragraphs of made-up GOP claims -- 14 paragraphs -- before a Democrat is asked to respond. Terrible journalism.
1
Don't like the way a vote tally is going? Claim fraud!! You don't need proof, just to have it reported by Fox-Pravda. Its the old propaganda recipe: tell a lie often enough and people will believe it. And these days, they are primed to believe it because the lies start at the top: a governor, a senator--the president. These are not people who care about democracy; they only care about their own positions of power. And those are positions where they can garner the full financial support of lobbyists and take advantage of all the rewards that crony capitlism has to offer them. Their personal wealth is at stake, so they will lie, file nuisance suits and preach to their own choirs until shown the exit door.
18
You make sound like a third world country.
I am afraid it is getting there.
1
@freeasabird It seems like parts of it are much closer than others...But it might be time to ask for third party oversight into highly contested elections. Many countries do that--though I can hear the bluster about sovereignty already. Nonetheless....
Well, Florida is a mess... again. I got to say though, Rick Scott seizing ballots has really bad optics. I wouldn't jump straight to Cuba but the analogy is clearly correct in its intent. A governor seizing ballots in a contested election looks really, really bad. I don't see any way around that one.
As for Broward County, they are obviously in the bulls-eye. A heavily Democratic county in a contested statewide election? Not hard to connect the dots on this one. This is a moment where politics truly become pathetic. I wonder if the courts have learned their lesson after 2000. Florida clearly hasn't yet.
14
More projection from the GOP.
“We gerrymander, suppress black voter turnout, and hold unconstitutional hearings to deny former felons their right to vote after serving time, but the Democrats are tampering with the election.”
27
Republicans call this strategy the “Jeb Bush.” It may be low energy, but it sure does get the election stolen.
12
There used to be a time in this country when adults felt genuinely ashamed when it was revealed they were acting childishly. Now, in this great era of “I don’t care,” adults out-child the children on a routine basis. Caught doing something wrong? Tell a transparent lie. Other person wins? Yell “Cheater!” Stomp your foot. Call people names. Ah, brave new world.
9
The entire Republican Party has officially degenerated into a gaggle of tin-pot, third-world dictators. Rick Scott should know better, but he has soiled any positive legacy his governorship might have otherwise had with this tirade of Trump-ism infused rhetoric. Scott is just like DeSantis and every other weak-kneed, Whitehouse stooge. Like so many lemmings, they continue to march their entire party down the same inevitable path taken by Sears, disco and the pet rock.
14
Rick Scott is a fraud. He made a fortune cheating Medicare. He lied about his record in the election. And he feels that he cheated, "fair and square," and the will of voters does not matter. Give him what he stole!
14
I wish the NY Times wouldn't frame the issues with a question in the headline, as if the question has credence. I believe the headline could be written in a much more neutral way. This way it would not give power to the proposed question, which in itself can be problematic. Let me give you some examples NY Times, and see if you can better understand me. "Why isn't Barack Obama releasing his birth certificate?" "Why doesn't Iraq just show they don't have weapons of mass destruction?" "What is Hilary hiding with the emails?" See -- the questions themselves create false narratives, and I'd like the Times to be more careful in its continued framing of issues.
18
@Aras Paul Agreed and good point.
1
It’s a very good point, and it’s also unjournalistic in another way: it needlessly avoids the facts. The correct headline should be something like: “Scott claims vote fraud with no evidence.”
The Times also needs to - across the board - stop unattributed statements like, “X thinks this” or “Y wants that.” All we know is what people say and do, not what they think.
1
Party before Country. Count the votes.
4
@Fred
It's the other way around.
Count the votes.
4
Florida's voting system seems to be built to fail in the most populous counties: inadequate resources for counting votes compounded with impossibly tight deadlines for reporting results. Since this is a recurring problem, it was and is the responsibility of the governor and legislature to revise the system instead of screaming fraud and charging incompetence,
10
Why is Scott claiming fraud?
He is losing, and he is Republican. It is what they do.
Next question.
16
Ah, Tammany Hall is alive and well in Florida!
8
If there was fraud in the Florida election as Governor Scott claims, and if he wins, then doesn't that make his own election illegitimate?
18
I suggest the New York Times investigate the method used in Florida to count absentee ballots received by mail. What is the procedure for matching signatures? How many ballots are rejected for this reason? Are more votes rejected for this reason in certain areas of Florida? Are the signatures of minority voters more likely to be determined to be a mismatch? What efforts are made to contact voters and give them an opportunity to prove their vote should be counted? Are those efforts uniform throughout the state? Will the hand recount address any of these issues?
6
Please stop repeating the "fake news" of voter fraud. Let the process proceed as mandated by Florida law without spreading the partisan Republican conspiracy theories to delegitimize the election that they've already done so much damage to with rampant voter suppression.
6
Fearing that the vote may go against them, Republicans are following Trump in claiming fraud. They seek to undermine possible Democratic victories. If this occurs, they will undoubtedly go to courts, first in Florida and then to their seat of power, the Supreme Court. Since the responsibility for running an election belongs to the states, I trust that the SC will not interfere unconstitutionally, as they did in 2000.
20
@Frank Casa
They're just doing what the Dems and Hillary claimed after the '16 elections.
@Rocket J Squrriel. Clinton did not claim fraud like the Republicans are doing. This is what happened:
"Tellingly, the pleas for recounts have gained no support from the Clinton campaign, which has concluded, along with outside experts, that it is highly unlikely the outcome would change even after an expensive and time-consuming review of ballots."
1
The United States contains 3,007 counties in its 50 states. Most of these counties seem to have mastered the art of running elections in the following way: people register to vote, in person, online, or by mail. People vote, in person or by mail. Votes get counted. If necessary, they get re-counted. Why is it that so many of Florida's 67 counties can't seem to master this process? If they're having this much trouble getting the process right in election after election--and remember, their ineptitude goes back at least 17 years and probably much further--wouldn't you think they would maybe look at some of the other 2,940 counties in the U.S. to see how they manage it? It's just a suggestion, but honestly, folks, this problem has been solved, over and over and over. Perpetually un-solving it begins to look less like incompetence and more like deliberate malfeasance.
18
@Barbara Carlton Since 1999, all Floridian governors, the office/person who would be able to address these problems, have been Republicans! So the deliberate malfeasance lies with....
10
@Barbara Carlton
It should have dawned to everyone by now that the Republicans in Florida do not want to solve the voting problem. They have much incentives to keep things as they are.
4
"But it was too late: the fluid vote tally in three statewide races and repeated claims of possible fraud by Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott — who is running in a still-contested Senate race — were enough to convince many Floridians that widespread election theft was underway."
The repeated claims of Rick Scott, Marco Rubio, Matt Gaetz and the entire FOX News "entertainment" division were enough to convince many Florida Republicans that widespread election theft was underway. FIFY.
11
Let's see now....what do Florida, Georgia and Arizona have in common? Oh yeah, Republicans run these states and have done for quite some time now.
25
@Bella They feel entitled to the offices they stole.
9
This spectacular incompetence in Broward County, which makes it easier for those who want to steal votes do so, always happens in cities or counties that are run by Democrats. Any Republican whose election may, as here, depend on getting the vote right in these incompetent at best and corrupt at worst places would be foolish not to fight when Dem votes continue turning up days after voting ceased.
3
@ehillesum
Well, the Broward County election commissioner was appointed by Jeb Bush in 2003.
3
@ehillesum Did you read the article? It, and other sources if you chose to research, say there have not been other votes ‘showing up.’ The box that was marked ‘provisional ballots’ was actually voting supplies. The idea of votes being fabricated is just that, a fabrication or willful misrepresentation by Republicans in the media.
And, as noted, the system is overseen by the Govenors office, which is Republican and has been sinc 1999, a few years before the Bush/Gore deubaucle.
2
Even if the recount does not change the result, ALL legitimate votes should be counted. I do not see why this is so hard for the GOP to understand. Oh, right. They only regard elections as legitimate if they win.
30
Rick Scott is a criminal whose company defrauded Medicare of millions of dollars and was fined millions of dollars in return. In a just world Scott the slug would be in prison not tweeting that Bill Nelson is committing fraud. Of course in Republican world -- counting all of the votes in any election is seen as "fraud" because they don't want fair elections.
29
It is unbelievable how Machiavellian some politicians are. Rick Scott, Florida’s Republican governor, was supposed to fire Broward County's election supervisor who has been sloppy in the past, making obvious, unintended, mistakes in previous elections. But he kept her on the job, against explicit recommendation of Florida Department of State, Division of Elections. Given how important Florida has been to the Republicans in recent elections, this decision puzzled many in the media.
As of yesterday, this is no more a puzzle. On Sunday, Mr. Scott appeared on 60 minutes and was asked to provide evidence for his accusations that Democrats have been engaging in voter fraud and vote manipulation. And Mr. Scott, with straight face and absolutely with no hesitation, pointed to the same Broward County election supervisor and her past mistakes as his evidence.
Now it is clear that Mr. Scott kept her intentionally on the job to be the one in his back pocket, just in case things do not go his way.
20
It is odd to me that no one is talking about Russian interference in any election across the US. Either there was not any, or people do not care, or perhaps they are investigating it now.
2
Even though I am a Democrat, I am fed up with the continued apparent incompetence in Broward, and even though I think (hope ) that these are genuine issues and excuses, that doesn't change the negative outcome of this for the Democrats, that these issues are creating unmeritedsuspicions and doubts about outcomes when there doesn't need to be any.
I fervently hope that in the next election cycle for county supervisor of elections the Dems encourage Snipes to seek another office, and find someone with general management competence to stand for the office. Too often these offices are viewed as mere "stepping stones" to bigger runs by up & coming politicians, and the quality of and faith in our elections suffer as a result.
1
"As it turned out, there was no mischief. The mystery box, seen in photos all over social media, contained not ballots but supplies — pens, envelopes, signs advising people to “Vote Here.”"...says it all. Just count the votes.
7
I’m curious why no one is screaming about Arizona, where the margin as of right now (8:30am CT) has flipped from more than 1% on one side to nearly 1.5% on the other side. Now THAT seems to me to be more of an indicator of something wrong with their process than does the close count in Florida where hard-working election officials and workers are desperately trying to accurately recount every legal ballot to ensure that all Floridians have a voice. So stop with the conspiracy theories and interference with our democratic process, let them do their legally mandated jobs, and when they are done, celebrate the legitimate winner, whichever party he or she is.
3
@Blue Femme When they counted ALL the votes the Democrat won. What is so hard to understand?
4
@Blue Femme
RE: the Arizona vote count... Look at the vote nationally. Urban/suburban went blue. Rural/exurban went red. When outstanding uncounted votes come from the states's largest metro area, one would expect that the majority of those votes will be cast for the Democrat. Half a million votes from Maricopa County still to be counted on election night could very easily move the needle from a 1% McSally lead on Tuesday night to a 1.5% Sinema lead this morning.
2
@Blue Femme why is that an indication of something wrong? It’s called continuing to count the mail in ballots and such. An election is not over until all votes are counted and the race is certified, which can take weeks.
1
Republicans have been engaged in widespread voter suppression tactics, because they know they can't win on a national basis if everyone is allowed to vote.
Then, when that doesn't work, they turn to lies about "voter fraud."
This country needs to vote these people out by margins that aren't subject to these tactics.
9
If and when we ever actually decide we are a democracy and fix our broken, and in many cases, intentionally flawed, election systems there will be less politicians like Scott.
Now I have to admit that any state who would continue to keep someone like Scott in office to some extent deserves what they get. It's the effect someone like Scott has on the rest of the nation that I object to.
Are there responsible voters in Florida? You bet there are, and their numbers are increasing every day. Hurricane Michael had something to do with that. And Michael gave the climate change denier Scott the thrashing he deserved. Too bad that many of the citizens of Florida were collateral damage.
And the republicans in Florida complain about taxes? They are not the only ones paying for the cleanup and they know that. The price falls on all Americans and I am happy to share the burden. But it galls me to see this clueless, venal, climate change denying, republican governor, and senate hopeful, whine about the broken election system in his state. Whine about the recount. Whine about how badly he is being treated.
"Hurricane" Rick Scott, republican senator from the state of Florida?
It shivers my timbers to contemplate.
8
Reminds me of the run-up to the 2016 election when Trump alleged it would be fraud if he lost, and that it was fraud when he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. Scott and Rubio are simply following The Vulgarian’s playbook. Not even being original or subtle in their corrupt sense of entitlement.
12
This will be the Republican tactic going forward -- claiming fraud in every race they're losing. (The mere fact that more votes are counted for the Democratic candidate proves that voter fraud is real!) The next step, following a relentless Fox-enabled campaign to undermine confidence in the election process, will be to call for a postponement of the 2020 election "until we figure out what's going on there."
14
At this point it would seem that there is no evidence of fraud, just irresponsible, inflammatory statements by Republican officials who should know better. And disturbing conflicts of interest namely Governor Rick Scott in his quest to be Senator— and by extension Marco Rubio and President Trump and others more intent on crying foul then letting the lawful process play out. In fairness Governor Scott should remove himself from the process. One would think if he wins the Senate he would want it to be an untainted win . . .
10
Interesting that whenever there is a close election, the problems seem to be concentrated in heavily Democratic districts.
3
@Jason McDonald
In Republican controlled states, that is. Funny how that works.
The Broward Country Election Commissioner was appointed by Jeb Bush, and was kept on by Scott despite requests that she be fired for incompetence.
4
@Jason McDonald
Yeah that is interesting.
It's a good thing that republican governor Rick Scott is on the job.
Yes, "Hurricane Rick", denying any responsibility for Florida's weird, dysfunctional, possibly criminally manipulated, election apparatus.
But Trump agrees that the election was fraudulent. And the republican president Trump knows all about fraud.
5
@Jason McDonald Yep - votes not counted in Republican run states in the heavily Democratic districts. Every time
We need a federal law that states have to use non-partisan elections boards to run elections, and no candidate can be on those boards.
We also need a free federal voting ID card issued through Social Security administration, and a universal, verifiable voting machine standard.
Ivanka just got a Chinese patent for voting machines. GUARANTEE they are easily hacked and have no verification systems in them.
4
Rick Scott had eight years to clean up the voting issues of his constituents the Florida voters. It's interesting he considers his own election a fraud because he failed to look at the issues when he was in charge. How can he represent the people of Florida when you are the cause of your own fraudulence for failing to do your job? Now it's fraud if there is a re-count and you did not know your own voting rules.
9
Don’t claims of fraud and other irregularities necessitate a recount?
8
No surprise here as it's true to the Roy Cohn/Donald Trump Handbook to "double-down" whenever there's any doubt in the discourse before pursuing a course of excessive litigation.
10
It offends me when I see Republicans cry crocodile tears during veteran's day then discount their votes in an election. George Bush would visit the wounded he sent off to war then sign off on a bill killing veteran benefits. It's that kind of cynicism that earned the GOP a loss in 2006.
9
This chaos is exactly what Republicans want to play out in precincts around the country. It’s part of their master plan: get elected by screaming about government incompetence earlier Republicans enacted, then govern to make it even more incompetent.
9
@EB
Yet, the irregularities always seem to occur in strongly Democrat districts.
Mayor Daly and Boss Tweed are smiling down upon their latter day acolytes!
1
The Governor suspects fraud because the Governor has committed Medicare Fraud and would use fraud again himself.
16
Very suspicious here the way the difference in our senate candidates was the exact same percentage all the way through (Republican ahead of course) until the uncounted votes started being tallied...someone was smart enough to realize that the computerized tampering probably only happens on voting day so anything counted beyond that would actually be legitimate....very scary since confidence in our elections is the very basis of our system....maybe that's why Rick Scott is so freaked...he thought the fix was in....
4
By just reading the headline, which is all many people do, you would assume that yes indeed there was anti-Republican voter fraud in Florida as Trump, Scott and Rubio claim. Of course, they don't have one iota of proof, but a willing press, including the NY Times with headlines like this is planting the seeds of doubt in the minds of many. Trump and the Republicans constantly play the media like this. When will they stop being dupes?
9
@Seldoc. It's not just the headline that's misleading. The article starts with two paragraphs describing a suspicious situation. Only in the third paragraph do we get told the suspicion was unfounded. In the fourth paragraph we are told the correct information came out too late. The same is true for the article. It's nice the Times has confidence that its readers won't stop after the first couple of paragraphs, but many will.
5
Republicans crying foul is hypocritical to the extreme, as there is no evidence of fraud in Broward's vote counting. Rubio has not changed one iota, nor has Scott, fearmongering as usual. A shame for distorting the electoral system, however dysfunctional it may appear. Let the vote counting finish as intended; and disengage from hysteric conspiration theories intended to sow distrust in each other (divide to conquer, a shameful republican and Trump's mantra).
6
You ask "Why is the governor claiming fraud?" Because our fraudulent president has made it normal.
8
I've worked in Oregon as a temporary elections worker for most of the elections over the past ten years. The county clerk and other permanent employees are always very careful that things are done correctly by all the workers, and very much aware of the rules and regulations from Salem about how things should be done.
Does Rick Scott, having been governor of Florida for eight years, bear any responsibility if things are going haywire in his state? Isn't it unfair to be complaining about rogue operators if it was his responsibility to ensure that elections were properly conducted?
12
@Zeca
It's a new thing with governors--it seems they're not responsible for anything. We all got a strong whiff of that when Gov. Chris Christie claimed he knew absolutely nothing about the George Washington Bridge lane crossings a few years ago--lane closings arranged by his own staff.
I do wish, though, that Floridian election workers would be more careful. I don't care how nice and handy an empty box labelled "provisional ballots" might be, they should just go to Walmart and buy a fifty nine cent plastic container to put their pens and pencils into.
3
@Zeca I'd also like to point out that this study claims that Oregon's system is the best in the nation for ease of voting.
https://newsroom.niu.edu/2018/09/25/new-study-scrutinizes-time-and-effort-it-takes-to-vote-in-each-state/
And the percentage of possibly fraudulent votes cast in the 2016 election was .002%
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/15/voter-fraud-oregon-november-election-dennis-richardson/671503001/
3
How about we just count all the votes? Why are there strict deadlines if the deadlines can't be met? Why can officials request that the vote count be stopped? It seems to me that both parties would benefit if the voters felt sure their vote would be counted. After all, we want a fair election, don't we? Don't we?
24
@Katherine Cagle
Exactly right. I have never understood why there has to be a deadline. The counting should cease when all the votes are counted, no matter how long it takes. In 2000, I didn't understand why the vote count needed to be stopped either. It seems arbitrary.
10
@Katherine Cagle. Perhaps both parties would benefit, but only one party is trying to obstruct.
7
My heart sings that corrupt RIC SCOTT IS AFRAID!
The Con Don is afraid. Marco Rubio is afraid. Ted Cruz is afraid. Ric DeSantis is afraid. All the Robber Baron and their operatives are afraid.
Good Job, Good People of America who cast a vote to purge them - and ALL Robber Barons and their operatives - OUT of OUR United States of America governments at all levels.
Even if they win they will stay afraid - as they should.
WE THE PEOPLE are coming for you boys and girls. Right NOW.
27
Really stretching it there. Since one election official already been in jail for destroying ballots, then ordered by the judge not to open anymore mail in Ballots in her bedroom. Surprised she still has a job, but she a Democrat so that's ok. My opinion they should have replaced her once she was released. There is no legal reason for a election official to open ballots in the privacy of her bedroom, unless it was to remove the Republican ballots so they could not be counted. This mess is all in the Democrats, same ones who gave us the messed up gore and Bush debacle. Must be the air there, other liberal counties don't have any problems counting ballots.
...Hypocrite Scott is alleging corruption? Using his office as Governor is, in and of itself, an inherent conflict of interest, and corruption.
Sounds like mirrors of Kemp in Georgia and Kobach in Kansas, the other conflicted state officers and kings of alleged voter fraud and corruption.
Maybe that is why the races are so tight. the people have had enough of THEIR corruption.
30
I tend to expect republican fraud. I work with a teacher who told me her father who is a die hard republican; votes twice. I don't know if this is legal or not, but he votes in person in the state he lives in and then because he owns property in floriduh, he votes absentee ballot here. Seems fishy to me, but what do I know? I think someone should look into it. I don't know who to call. What I do know is part of the republican play book is to blame the democrats for things the republicans are doing to transfer the heat. floriduh comes through again, and now you know why I sign myself as from floriduh..
17
@Richard Lehner Actually Florida does not check if our "snowbirds" vote here as well as their home state. Sad but true. It could and should be done.
3
@Richard Lehner
The incompetence of numerous states is at fault that some people might indeed vote in different states.
When moving to another state and registering there, one has to fill out a line in which state you were registered before.
You can't inform the supervisor of elections in your former state yourself to take you off the registry.
Until last year I was registered in two states, while my husband was even registered in three.
Contrary to the man you mentioned, neither one of us voted in more than one state.
But this crazy system doesn't exist in any other advanced nations, where every time you move you are automatically a voter in you new jurisdiction.
5
WHY ??? Because Rick Scott thought the FIX was in.
Seriously.
31
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi listed reasons for a voter fraud investigation in her letter to Florida's top law enforcement official. The letter is available on the Florida Attorney General website at
http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/GWRY-B6ESE6/$file/Letter+to+Swearingen.pdf
2
@William Case
You mean the same Pam Bondi who accepted a $25,000 "donation" from Donald Trump's Foundation to help re-elect her, and maybe stop her from investigating his sham Trump University in Florida?
Just saying...
5
It is incredulous to me that a nation that put a man on the moon in 1969 - 1969! - cannot devise a voting system that is foolproof and tamper-resistant.
Voting is the lifeblood of a democracy. Florida is, to use an overworked word of Donald Trump - a disgrace.
20
Good Heavens how far will the Democrats go to steal an election??
7
@Chris Anderson Good heavens, how far will the Republicans go to steal an election??? After all, they have more experience.
12
Who is the “Fox” that has been guarding the henhouse? It sure ain’t the Democrats!
5
@Chris Anderson
Yeah, like gerrymandering districts that eventually get struck down in courts.
Like cry and moan months before an election saying that illegal immigrants are racing here just to vote.
Like having an entire "news" network devoted to cheerleading their most divisive thoughts.
Like making the original people of this nation not be able to use a PO BOX for an voting address even though their reservations, in many cases, do not have actually standard property addresses such as Standing Rock and Pine Ridge.
Oh, darn, all those examples were Republican scams to suppress the vote.
I can't think of any Democratic voting tricks other than wanting all the votes to be counted. My bad.
11
Rick Scott, a truly pathetic creature, should concede this election TODAY. After all, what he is saying and claiming is that he has failed as the governor of Florida for the past 8 years, seeing as how state wide elections fall under his jurisdiction.
What a clown, claiming his own government and election system is rigged.
31
Where are the independent election observers? What do they say? This is on a par with South American dictatorships.
9
@Jack Unfortunately, the Democrat run county election departments in these 2 counties did not allow any observers in until they were sued, so several days went by with no oversight.
1
The answer to the question in the title is that Scott is a replacement-level Republican, and in 2018, that means a Trumpist who will challenge the legitimacy of any close election that doesn't go his way. The party is the problem, and Trump is just the symptom.
13
Since the GOP has had control over the state for 16 years (Jeb Bush and then Rick Scott) and there are still problems counting votes, then perhaps the GOP should face reality. They haven't done a very good job of fixing of the basics of vote tabulation. It takes a great deal of chutzpah to leave a problem broken for so long that when it finally fails on you to scream "fraud!"
42
@Tom Q Actually, the GOP has very little "control" in the 2 counties that are having problems in Florida, those are both controlled by the Democrats.
From what I'm hearing, we have ballots being destroyed (in a prior election) before the law allowed, then lack of oversight when ballots are being recreated (ordinarily the candidates and parties have an opportunity to watch the process to ensure it is fair, but they had to sue to get access this time), sloppy procedures that have people asking questions (leaving dual use boxes that makes it look like a box of supplies is a box of ballots). These are not infrastructure issues that can be fixed with funds from the state, these are lax procedures and processes that do not value the votes. That falls on the county election officials, all democrats.
I understand how a county election department gets to this point, most of the time it doesn't matter and the extra effort to ensure the process is as close to 100% as possible, looks like wasted effort. When the margin is 10% or more, then a 1% margin of error is fine. When the margin is 1%, then you can't have 1% margin for error.
2
@Joe
Thank you for one of the very few objective non-partisan comments on this article!
1
Voter suppression, incompetent, corruption--Georgia and Florida have it all--and it's on the Republican leaders and infrastructure in those states. Scott and Kemp knew that the only way that they could be sure of winning was to rig the vote and process in their favor--and that is what they are trying to do. The test for the citizens of those states is if they will let them get away with stealing the election through lawsuits and manipulation of the system. Arizona is doing it right and letting the process play out. Florida and Georgia should do the same. Trump should have a seat and shut up until it's over.
38
In other advanced nations citizens do not have to register to vote. They are eligible to vote in any election the minute when they are 18.
There are no primaries with a slate of dozens of wannabe heads of state have to compete against each others.
They vote by paper ballots and a few countries that tried electronic machines have abolished it after a very short trial phase because of inaccuracies and possible hacking.
The election campaigns are restricted to a few months before the election - contrary to the US where campaigning for the next election starts already the day after.
Elections are state financed, contrary to the US where obscene amounts of money through donations larger than the GDP of some small countries are filling the parties coffers.
America, the oldest democracy of modern times? Hardly, when the highest bidders can buy themselves a government.
40
Because, as a Republican, he lies through his teeth. If he loses the count, he will rely on Republican courts to insert him in the job anyway.
12
Brenda Snipes was appointed by Jeb Bush. Rick Scott had 8 years to replace her, if he had wanted to.
Typical Republican hypocrisy. Smoke and mirrors and lame conspiracy theories...
37
@Craig, Snipes was appointed by Jeb Bush to finish out the elected Oliphant after Oliphant was suspended by Bush. She later won election to the office.
Perhaps the Republicans are leveling false charges about the recount because they have something to hide.
16
This is all so simple and painfully obvious. Republicans really aren't big fans of voting. Period! Full stop!
23
There is no need to rush to determine the winners in Florida. Take your time. Make sure the vote is accurate. Count every vote. Democracy depends on an accurate legitimate vote. And next election, Florida, get your act together. Buy some modern counting machines and open more precincts and have early voting so that voters don’t have to wait hours in line and so that the count can start early and not rush to do it all on election night.
13
Florida does have early voting. It also makes it very easy to vote by mail. Anyone can request an absentee ballot. Many people did so, and it is the absentee ballots that are causing some of the delay in counting.
3
It's pathetic that when Rick Scott had the lead there was no mention of voter fraud now that the lead has been significantly cut there's all these allegations of fraud. Rubio is also another pathetic figure. They've all taken a page from Trump's book of tricks and are blatantly misleading the press and public.
If someone says that they've seen ballots mishandle or filled out illegally then take a deposition and make them swear under oath regarding these allegations. In addition, if this did happen how do they know they were not filled out for Republicans.
It's not the voting process that undermines the public trust, it's sleazy politicians line Scott and Rubio that are responsible for that.
21
Rick Scott is an expert on fraud. That was his primary business career expertise. He accuses and speaks from ample experience.
23
If all of the states had the Oregon voting system, where every registered voter recieves and may return a ballot in the mail, the will of the majority would prevail, polling place grid lock would be eliminated, an unhackable paper trail would be irrefutable evidence of the vote and it would cost billions less.
19
@rich , the problem with mail in ballots is that they could be delayed as they were in Florida because of the bomb threat. It mentions that some ballots were not counted because they didn't arrive on time. I, personally, think they should be counted if the posted date on the ballot was before the cut off date.
5
But here’s the good news. Joe Scarborough told his audience this morning that FL’s badly designed voting system is the reason the Russians can’t hack it: FL has 67 counties with 67 different election systems.
It appears that Governor Scott’s malfeasance, his Trumpian skill at passing the buck and the generally conceded incompetence of a Bush appointed Elections Overseer assure that many legitimate voters are precluded from exercising this most basic civic duty, while many others who did vote lose the right to have their votes counted.
12
I for one believe in conspiracy theories. For example, the GOP is clearly conspiring on the national level to undermine confidence in the democratic process. The attacks in this case, are aimed at a specific candidate, or even an election worker or supervisor. They are aimed at the concept of voting.
When you start to hear informed officials publicly call into question legal procedures such as how ballots get delivered, or workers filling in ballots that are otherwise unscannable, t is the process of democracy that comes under attack.
The goal of this conspiracy is creating a justification in the minds of Republican leaning people to simply do away with voting altogether. "Look, look," they are saying, "voting is hopelessly compromised. Look look," they'll say, "This is no way to choose a government."
What do you think they will propose then?
6
Why on earth do we put elected officials--officials who identify as members of a specific party, no less--in charge of running elections and counting votes? How about creating appointed commissions that include representatives from both major parties (or a nonpartisan commission if such could be found)?
This seems like a no-brainer. Sort of like the way any rational democracy should handle drawing boundaries for legislative districts...
26
@JB Good idea, except, who appoints the commission? Presumably the Governor, who currently is in a contest of wills with the Legislature over nearly everything except which shoe he should tie first.
4
There should be a computer comparison between name and address lists of federal and state income tax returns, drivers' licenses or state IDs and voter participation. If the names on these lists don't correspond, red flags should go up.
4
The irony here is that the broken system, perpetuated by Republicans, since at least 2000, will come back to haunt them in the Florida Senate, Gernor's and Secretary of Agriculture races. They did not claim fraud, when their acts of voter suppression favored their party; now, they are.
It looks like poetic justice is about to deal the GOP a nasty blow.
While the Democrats won't take the US Senate, they could end up with 48 seats, if they win Florida and Arizona. If is doubtful they can win the Mississippi special Senate election, but if so, than the makeup of the Senate will remain 51 - 49 for the GOP.
Of course, expect all of this to end up in the courts, as the GOP claims fraud and illegal voting. Just another reason why there should be a single standard for ballots, counting and registration.
15
Two suggestions:
1. The national elections should be done on standardized, uniform equipment
2. There should always be an audit trail in case of a malfunction
This is not a "states rights" issue but one of quality of national elections. There are other potential benefits as well.
28
It's always Florida.
23
So, the administration in Florida is up to it again. No, it is not the Democrats who rig the vote, it's the people who organize the voting and count the votes who do. Republicans cannot be trusted with vote counting. Call in the UN observers, please.
40
I’m sorry, who is and has been the governor of Florida for two terms? Seems Rick Scott will use his power to attempt to seize voting machines after the fact, but no interest in seeing that Florida counties have voting machines that don’t qualify as relics. Rep. Matt Gaetz is a notorious Tea Party Republican, a fan of conspiracy theories and flat out lies. He has no credibility as the truck stunt proves. Deep breaths everyone, count the votes as accurately as possible, let’s not be led down the garden path again by another phony “Brooks Brothers riot” which resulted in the Supreme Court decision to halt vote counting prematurely handing the presidency to George W. Bush.
34
The Democrats believe so much in getting themselves elected, they have not only instituted early voting, they now have late voting - for Democrats only.
Thanks to Dan B.
6
@Ken As opposed to Republicans who think only certain people can vote and that only they can decide who those people are? You should check yourself because the evidence has been painfully laid out that Republicans path to victory is via gerrymandering (which needs to end) and voter suppression. There are numerous stories of Republican officials just coming out and saying that their efforts are in fact to deny Democrats victories in elections around the country.
One group wants to make sure that anyone who can vote should vote and that their vote is indeed counted.
Another group doesn't.
3
@Greg Algarin
Republicans do appreciate it if only some people vote. US citizens.
While Democrats hope for illegal aliens and helpful election officials stuffing ballot boxes, Republicans have honor.
Living and working abroad for 20 years, I am constantly aware that, as explained at the website of our own agency USAID: :
"USAID supports political competition and consensus-building efforts and provides leadership in these areas to other U.S. government entities and the broader development community. We do this through promoting 10 elements that are essential to fair elections and political processes:
1. Impartial electoral frameworks
2. Credible electoral administration
3. Effective oversight of electoral processes
4. Informed and active citizens
5. Representative and competitive multi-party systems
6. Effective governance by elected leaders and bodies
7. Inclusion of women and disadvantaged groups
8. Effective transfer of political power
9. Consensus-building for democratic reform
10. Sustainable local engagement"
How arrogant does our country appear NOW when we demand "FREE AND FAIR elections" of the countries to which we're supposed to be the ultimate example of "democracy"?
• Our candidates are backed by corporate contributions (fair? Democratic?)
• WE THE PEOPLE are demanded, ruthlessly, all day long, to contribute money to various campaigns (Free? Really?), and
• how many people feel confident that the votes are even counted properly?
What kind of an example are we nowadays? and
Who are we to be telling others how to do this?
24
Why indeed? Because, like Trump, when Republicans lose they cry fraud. When they win it's legit, notwithstanding voter suppression and gerrymandering.
43
As soon as the recount started going bad for the GOP, they started crying fraud. Had the vote count gone the other way and the Democrats cried fraud, they would have been labeled sore losers. The GOP had control of the state government for 8 years and had 18 years to get this right.
31
Trust Rubio to fan the flames. Hopefully he will be voted out in 4 years. Scott ran a dirty campaign and with the help of honest people he will not get his Senate Seat.
24
This is rich. Rick Scott, afraid that he might lose, sues his own administration, claiming fraud This kind of sour grapes would be embarrassing in a fifth grade class election.
And by the way, the notion that voter fraud is rampant is classic big lie in action. No evidence, no proof, no nada. Just keep repeating it and sooner or later it gains traction among those incapable of independent critical thinking. Hey, it's been shown to work before.
45
Grow up! There is widespread voter theft. The corrupt RED administration stole thousands of votes from BLUES, if not millions. Not Voter FRAUD, which is a fantasy of would-be dictators used to brainwash the gullible into accepting massive voter suppression. Now that 1.5 million people formerly thrown off the rolls will be able to vote, Florida will be BLUE. The North Shall Rise Again.
17
Rick Scott is Governor in a state where automatic recounts are triggered under specific conditions. Those conditions are in effect, and so the law is being followed. All the bellowing about fraud is just lying nonsense. Typical GOP lying nonsense, true, but nonsense nonetheless.
35
Has it really come to this? False accusations and innuendo of voter fraud? All in an attempt to secure one political party the grip on power. Why is there no national voting system? Why are there 50 different voting systems for 50 different states? Because those who are in power want it that way in order to keep power. They spread fake rumors and lies of election fraud which undermines the public trust of the electoral system and yet they do nothing to fix the system. We need a secure, simple, and efficient way to vote in elections. Not the chaos of the current system and its inherent loop holes and pit falls.
21
The people yelling the loudest about these problems would no doubt be the last people on earth to support a tax to fix them.
35
This is ridiculous, that the most powerful country in the world would handle elections as if we were a third world country. If we can safely and securely do online banking, taxes, social security, etc., why can't we vote securely online? A voter should have an electronic record of his/her vote, which could be accessed at any time if verification is needed by either the voter or the government. If ballots were in question, you could contact the voters and thus be able to count each vote. Right now they are throwing away votes based on different criteria. Was it your vote? It does not sound right that they mishandle your vote. Right now you do not get a receipt of your vote and how you voted, so you do not really know what happened to your vote because it essentially becomes anonymous. Do not tell me online vote is open to fraud. Banks do the majority of their transaction electronically. If it were not secure, they would not do it. If each voter gets a certification of vote and how they voted, there is no room for error or fraud. In fact, these records should be made public in the name of transparency. We need a modern voting system that cannot be manipulated by anyone. It is time for change.
5
@Aran. Are you seriously suggesting that each person’s vote be made public?
4
Funny how the guys who successfully stopped the recount in 2000 and benefitted from the chaos are the ones who scream and stomp their feet when the tally starts going the other way. Both Scott and DeSantis are STILL LEADING. Talk about sore winners.
16
Scott owns this state for last 8 years. If any problem is found then he is incompetent and are his.
He is claiming because he knows his real fraud will be caught and he will loose the election.
10
Florida’s highest elected official is admitting to his own incompetence, yet he still wants a promotion to the national stage. Something tells me that if the vote, and possible “voter fraud” seemed to he going in his favor it wouldn’t be an issue.
27
Rick Scott has been governor of the state for nearly eight years and he’s just now seeing the serious issues with the state’s voting system? No, the real problem is that he’s not getting the ROI that he expected; of course he’s going to do everything in his power to see that his $60 million wasn’t wasted.
26
It's an irony that in states like Florida or Georgia, there is never any problem with the voting process, the voting machines, or the people running the voting mechanisms...until the Republicans seem to be losing...then it's "fraud"...maybe the very mindset that the outcome is pre-determined and therefore everything must be done - legal or otherwise, ethical or otherwise - to ensure the pre-determined outcome is the "will of the people."
24
Rick Scott is like a young child at a birthday party who loses the game and cries, "You cheated." His sycophants like Marco Rubio aren't any better. This is a democracy still and every vote should be counted. I worked on the FL elections and there was a lot of voter suppression of black people. There was also a lot of hardworking election folks trying to make sure that everyone who wanted to vote was able too. The GOP controlled that process. What they are upset about is that despite their best efforts they could still lose.
29
Rick Scott had 8 years to fix the well-documented voting problem in Florida. Why didn't he? Has anyone asked him? I'd love to hear his answer.
111
Rick Scott has been Governor of Florida since 2011.
Funny...I don't remember him ever foaming at the mouth about Broward County voting problems in all that time.
74
Florida has been on notice since 2000 that its voting system needs to be fixed. What are they waiting for? Forty-nine other states (and, indeed, most Florida counties) seem to know how to operate. What is wrong here?
41
@gigi Why would a Republican state fix a voting "problem" that always ends in their favor? It's not a problem for them.
12
@Geraldine Oh, I don't know. Democracy?
“Mr. Gillum’s lawyer, Barry Richard... said. ‘I don’t think Florida has come up with a perfect system yet.’”
Why not just try for “competent”? It’s been almost 20 years since the Bush/Gore election: why can’t they get it right?
23
@ERT The good people of FL might try government by the Democratic party, which generally favors having elections.
10
"Repeated claims of mismanagement and worse by Mr. Scott ..."
"I was calling on the governor to fire her for months,” said Tim Canova..."
Well, dang it, who WAS that incompetent Governor who mismanaged the voting process?
Oh.
Wait.
That would be the selfsame "Mr. Scott" ... Florida's Governor for the past EIGHT YEARS.
"I demand that I stop mismanaging the voting process!!"
59
@TJ
The article indicates that she is an ELECTED Democratic official. Assuming that it is correct, I find it highly unlikely that she can simply be “fired”by a governor.
So criticisms of Scott for not having done so would seem misguided and blatantly partisan. Also, they do nothing to challenge the validity of the criticisms about her.
1
Rick Scott ought to be sued for incompetence if what he says is true. After all he oversaw all the elections in Florida. Complaining now only goes to show that he was just another bad governor wanting to be another bad senator. Florida already has a bad senator they need two so they can compete with Mississippi.
53
Why is he claiming fraud? So when he loses he's got an excuse and something to rally the GOP. They really think we'll believe fraud only happens when Democrats win, never Republicans. Trump was screaming about a rigged election before 2016 to set up the narrative and sow discontent. When he won, poof! No more fraud!
Count every vote.
22
@northeastsoccermum, actually he continued to point to voter fraud, particularly in California, as the reason for his losing the popular vote. After he became President, he set up a Commission to examine the extent of voter fraud across the Nation.
4
@Floyd Lewis. What happened with that “Commission,” Floyd?
2
@Floyd Lewis
Which showed nothing of substance and after much fanfare, was disbanded! Oh, and a few million dollars of taxes wasted! All fluff no substance! Noisey fluff, but nevertheless, fluff!
2
The state has become the epicenter of ridiculous. With the devout conspiracy theorists Gaetz, DeSantis and Scott (backed by the conspiracy theory spewing president) trying to confuse and erode the democratic process, it is a real mess.
21
Rep. Gaetz's district is in the Panhandle: far from Broward. He's shooting off his mouth because he wants his moment in the sun and knows he'll be covered by the press if he pulls outrageous stunts and says quoteworthy quips. Please, NYT, don't include him in this coverage: This man has nothing to do with the Broward vote recount and is just looking for his 15 minutes to get a little attention from his crush, Donald Trump.
34
Why are Republicans claiming election fraud? Why is the Pope Catholic?
25
The context creates the credibility. The person in charge in Broward County has a history of bizarre, sketchy/illegal behavior (which has been noted and publicized before) that should have disqualified her for the job. This isn't the first time it has come up, but she sticks around, cycle after cycle, nonetheless. She treats external verification efforts with disdain. And she comes from a party that, in the name of antiracism, steadfastly resists every effort to ID voters and otherwise inject bipartisan oversight into a highly contested process that should welcome bipartisan oversight.
3
“Republicans say that it is not mathematically possible for the Democrats to overcome the deficits they face in all three races under recount.”
A) If that’s true, then a recount shouldn’t be an issue. B) The law requires a recount.
So why are the Republicans so dead-set against counting every ballot?
70
I hope Florida never discovers how to run an election fairly, effectively, and efficiently. I mean, this calamitous scene every few elections or so is highly entertaining, which is to say nothing of the impact on history, both local and national. Three hours in line? Warehoused voting machines (OK - that's Georgia, so I guess this talent is widespread)? Ballot designs found confusing by your average bear? (Gator?) Legal deadlines without the supporting infrastructure to meet them? Lawsuits flying back and forth? I see a Reality Television show in the making.
16
Yes! Apprentice: Election Commissioner
3
The answer posed by this article is: Because Republicans and the governor reserve for themselves the right to lie, cheat and steal.
39
Scott and Rubio are undermining confidence in America’s democratic institutions. Why? Because it works. Just ask the President.
27
@Andy why don't you go ask HRC . She wrote the book in vote manipulating and cheats.
Seriously? For all the bad-mouthing of Hillary, nothing ever sticks. I don’t like her personally, but she’s clean. Check your sources.
3
@HVu
Not a very good book, I gather, since HRC won the pop vote by millions but lost the election.
6
Oh, the irony... the GOP that controls all the levers of government in Florida is crying foul because somehow, inexplicably, mysteriously and despite that total control, the voters may have outfoxed the Party and its shameful antics at the ballot box. Florida hasn’t had a clean election since at least 2000 and things have only gotten worse. To quote the President: “Shame”.
22
ARE there Republicans who are not corrupt?
That is not a rhetorical question.
30
No,Brandon, apparently there are not. The Koch brothers and their Robber Baron brethren bought them all.
Too bad it took us so long to realize it but - now that we have- WE THE PEOPLE must take action to stop them NOW as we started to do in the midterms.
2
Well what does anyone expect? Republicans’ biggest focus when it comes to elections is how to keep black people from voting, not to make the process more secure, transparent, and updated.
20
Chaos, fraud and lies have traditionally been the cornerstone strategy of the right-wing GOPers. They think that is the way to practice politics and that everybody does it that way. The Bush Florida/SCOTUS conspiracy years back will not be repeated. GOPers will not steal this election; Dems are making sure it will not happen again. This why from the fellow in D.C. to Scott are scared stiff that will lose this election….and one less senator.
11
@Nelson the math is: 53-47
@HVu
And what's happening in Florida right now is a good example of why it's 53-47.
Republicans will stop at nothing to steal votes, even though that didn't help them keep the House.
1
“In suing to seize ballots and impound voting machines, Rick Scott is doing his best to impersonate Latin American dictators who have overthrown Democracies in Venezuela and Cuba,” Isn’t the USA the “inventor of Latin American dictatorships? Isn’t the USA the one that perpetuated rigging elections in favor of right wing candidates? In the past this used to be a job for the USA’s intel agencies, although is a big and growing business for USA and UK based private companies.
10
Note; Florida's election laws say a recount is an absolute at the percentage it is now. So how can this be fraud?
I say have an new election with monitors at all polling stations.
12
Isn't it ironic that a Governor accusses an election system he oversees as being fraudulent? Where does the buck stop in Florida?
24
Whoever the incompetent governor was who allowed this electoral travesty to occur should be thoroughly investigated.
35
I love Florida but more and more the state looks like a banana republic. The vote there alone shows that half the population cares not a whit for the beautiful and fragile environment. The canary in a coalmine there is not yellow...but red...as in red tide.
8
Rick Scott knows all about fraud. He built his fortune defrauding Medicare.
23
Voting and elections are one of those cherished "States rights issues" - that the GOP will famously tout whenever convenient. SO Gov Scott - What have YOU done as the State Executive to address/fix/improve this system that YOU are responsible to govern????? The SILENCE is deafening....
5
How come they never found new republican votes?
4
Confusing? Certainly. Inefficient? Probably. Nontransparent? Likely. Fraudulent? Improbable. Hysterical? Absolutely!!
Florida certainly has had it’s issues related to voting but there are few reasons to believe results have been provably and persistently fraudulent. While it’s had historical instances of voter suppression, the results here are not nearly as suspect as those in Georgia.
Only since Trump preemptively declared the election process “rigged” have Republicans screamed “fraud” at every potentially unwanted outcome. Only since Trump made it fashionable to denigrate political or ideological opponents has the “lock her up” become a reflexive response to anyone or anything suspected of error,
incompetence, malfeasance, or outright criminality.
The sooner people like Matt Gaetz stop inserting themselves for the sake of publicity, but absent proof of their claims, the better off we’ll all be. The sooner we disallow candidates whose electoral leadership roles conflict with their candidacies, like Rick Scott and Brian Kemp and Kris Kobach, to run without giving up those responsibilities, the less suspect elections might become. The sooner we reject using that executive power to direct law enforcement intervention to arbitrarily alter the conduct of recounts, the less we’ll feel a sense of moving towards authoritarianism.
Matt Gaetz, shut up. Rick Scott, shut up. Mario Rubio, shut up. America, speak up. Florida, get your act together.
13
This article by the rabidly pro-Democrat NYT acknowledges that there have been vote-counting "irregularities" by Democrat election officials in Broward County and elsewhere in Florida.
Why aren't those responsible for these problems fired and/or prosecuted?
Has no one learned from the Florida voting fiasco in 2000?
1
Republicans love to yell fire during every election but have never lifted a finger to fix an antiquated voting system.
Instead, Republicans are just interested in suppressing the vote and making it difficult to register to vote.
Democracy has become and inconvenience for Republicans.
Exhibit #1: Trump.
16
The whole election process needs competent and independent oversight. These messes seem to occur in part because elections are run by the state, the rules vary from state to state, and the process is subject to the whims of the state legislature. I know involving the federal government at any level is unpopular but surely the American democratic process should be accessible to all its citizens in an equal and fair-handed way.
In Canada we have an independent non-political agency called Elections Canada which oversees all federal elections and reports to parliament. Each province has a similar body for provincial elections.
I know there are constitutional amendments regarding Americans' rights to vote but it seems they don't go far enough to guarantee an open and impartial process for every citizen.
4
Rick Scott has been governor of Florida for 8 years. Normally, the buck should stop with him but, in today’s GOP the buck stops with someone else.
36
Note to Florida: sloppiness and incompetence on your part does not constitute voter fraud. The whole world is indeed watching. It's not the first time we've watched.
19
Everyone in Florida should keep their mouth shut until all recounts are done and done correctly.
Making accusations without proof is something the president does all the time but it only undermines our democracy.
This country should take a lesson from the state of Oregon and adopt their election system.
16
We are becoming like a Latin American "democracy". All protocol and respectful ethics are off the table. It's a wrestling match. The Internet convinces the gullible and the angry that the moon really is green cheese and the earth is flat!
4
I’ve mailed in my ballot for years in Florida without problems. This year I had to call to request my ballot since I hadn’t received it and time was running out. 10 days later I called again as it hadn’t arrived. They promised to get one out immediately. I finally received my original ballet 2 weeks before Nov 6th which I filled out and sent that same day. My second request arrived Nov 5th. I don’t have much faith in this system.
6
the carnival sideshow opens with the clown barking out of the back of a pickup truck . . .
Here we go again, and already the dribble of email touting the next election becomes an avalanche. Is there no end to this?
2
What's going on in Broward, and its history, are extremely suspicious. This is not just conspiracy mongering. Snipes is a proven law-breaker. It seems the district's voters like that very much about her, since they re-elected her. Win by all means.
In a state where elections are always that close, everyone knows that it's enough to set up one county for fraud disguised as incompetence.
4
Matt Gaetz, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott...working feverishly to discredit the voting process in an effort to keep republicans in office, regardless of the voters' will.
Their role model in the White House encourages banana republic practices from local to national elections.
In a local Colorado polling place, a confederate shirt-wearing loiterer repeatedly tried to intimidate a legal voter. Why? Because the voter was not white.
For this we can thank every republican who ignores trump's daily attacks on the Constitution.
20
The GOP seems to call voter fraud and somehow blames Democrats every time a Florida election is close. And, yet, the state is run by Republicans. It’s almost as if they just make stuff up to make it easier to steal elections. Shocking
47
The contradiction of this particular election is Floridians voted to restore voters right to over 1.5 mm people by 65%. Yet they “elected” the very same person that had the power to restore this right but did very little about it in the last several years? Floridians make no sense.
17
@DREU
Watching a clip of Rick Perry - I was struck by what a pathetic whining creature he was, claiming voter fraud without evidence, when he was the one ultimately responsible, via HIS secretary of state. Pathetic, but eager, like Trump, to spread conspiracies lies and attack others without reason.
He wasn't someone I'd buy a car from
3
The ultimate Trump trope: Blame the Big Bad Government- even if you ARE the government, running the election.
As the Times pointed out the other day, Trump behaved like a true dictator last week, going far beyond his normal lust for power.
Because He Won! (That’s what he said) what he called a great victory.
The Florida Republican-led government, stuck with a solid paper trail behind them regarding election conduct just might lose, despite every attempt they made to guarantee that to be impossible.
So who can they blame? Their own employees - who spent Election Day watching each other to insure nobody did anything improper by Florida GOP standards.
Unlike the President, the Florida GOP had no big media to blame, so they used the foulest anti-democratic Conspiracy web sites showing their people properly doing their jobs mislabeled “proof of wrongdoing”.
With no one left, they’re blaming those criminals in government - themselves.
Before this election I told people to vote like it was their last chance.
I was wrong, the last chance was 2016 when the Electoral College did not perform its duty, as envisioned by its creators - to reject anyone who threatened the republican democracy of our nation of laws, even if technically winning the election.
Even though the demagogue “won” only if they said so - Clinton’s @3 million vote victory was 1% of the country’s population including those between 0 and 17 years, 354 days old back in Nov. 2016.
I fear the Rule of Law dead.
3
@Eatoin Shrdlu he Electoral College DID exactly why it was created for (of couse unless you're on the loosing side)
"Why Is the Governor Claiming Fraud in Florida’s Election?"
Because like all Republicans these days, all of them, he is a monstrous ego and fetid ball of entitlement that cannot conceive someone other than himself is worthy to lead and to claim the personal benefits of such a position, and willing to ruin the country that spawned him to prove he is right.
12
Florida has always been known for having a slippery vote count, just think back to the chaotic days when Bush and Gore were locked in a struggle for the Nation let alone a state.
Everyone knows what rules are for. Those who chose to break the rules and look for acceptance after the fact disrespect all those that follow the rules. We are not so naieve as to think elections can't be stolen, they have been and most likely will be in the future.
Mueller should be investigating this case, the Russians phooey , Ms Snipes is a far better target. And most likely a coconspirator with Nelson and Gillum in this charade. Shame.
2
I can understand why the Republicans are so upset with Democrats and claiming fraud: The GOP trademarked the cheating brand.
11
Because he knows he’s lost but wants to wing and like any “good” Republican he wants to distract us from the truth.
1
@Justice Holmes
Actually, it appeared that he won by a narrow margin.
1
"Mr. Gaetz said that in Broward County, it appeared that officials were trying to avoid releasing information on the number of ballots received and votes counted, which could be used to “triangulate fraud.” The governor had to sue to get it."
So Ms. Robles and Ms. Mazzei, what is the number received and number votes counted? Since the information is available now, that would be something relevant to include in your article!
There are right wing memes going around saying that the number counted exceeds the number received. As I reader I would like to know if there is truth to that or not.
3
I don't know exactly what has happened in the Florida count, but there are several things I do know. One is that the phenomenon known as "red shift" - where exit polls show Democrats winning but the vote count favors Republicans - can be explained by the fact that legal voters have been purged from the voting rolls without their knowledge. When these people show up to vote they are given "provisional" ballots and these are not counted unless the voter goes to the voting authorities within a limited time frame and proves he or she is in fact a legally registered voter. And I know that the only states who purge legal voters on a grand scale are run by Republicans.
In addition, in situations where there is some doubt about the final count, Republicans seek to muddy the waters by spreading all kinds of rumors. That appears to be happening right now in Florida. It would be best for news outlets to report what the Republicans attest in court filings and not what they say to the media.
We need a constitutional amendment affirming the right of every US Citizen to vote, and making it a crime to prevent any US Citizen from voting or having their vote counted.
804
@Marilyn I totally agree with you Marilyn. I am a resident of Broward County who lives abroad. I've voted by mail, as is my right. I've been worried since election day that my vote will not be counted, and that shouldn't be in our American democracy! I also wonder how many provisional and mail in ballots where mishandled in the "red" counties in Florida. Why isn't the media focusing on them?! Also, why are the election offices under the current republican government given enough of a budget to do the job properly? This is the current tactic of the republicans to put the squeeze on democrats.
Ms. Snipes, Keep Calm and Keep Counting!
188
@Marilyn
The 15th and 26th Amendments make it pretty clear that any citizen aged 18 and older have the right to vote, both in federal and state elections. Subsequent to Nixon, Republicans have done everything they can to subterfuge the intent of Congress and the American people. Just making sure every vote is counted, and every citizen is not denied the ability to vote is about as American as it gets. In Florida, that is the position of the Democrats. Yet the Republicans, by their actions, are crying foul, instigating lawsuits, spreading false rumors in the press, etc. What are they afraid of? If the majority of people want Republican representation, then let Republicans stand on their positions. The voters will let them know if these positions are acceptable. These actions by the Republicans are undermining the integrity of our trust in the government. It is downright appalling and dangerous.
111
Minor problem: many citizens are just too young to vote.
The second problem is said amendment wold not affect gerrymandering, our fallback to paper ballots in an era when all we need do is attach a double-copy just-better-than cash register 2-copy tape system to provide proof to every voter that the candidates they electronically voted for indeed were the ones who got their votes and providing an even stronger paper trail, and other games, particularly those that can be played that instead if an Election Day holiday, we have, in some states, an Election Month.
Yes, finally, I don’t think for able-bodied folks who would have no problem getting to the polls on Election Day should be given the right to vote at home, with the TV blaring what will be proven next week to be lie-filled campaign ads.
I don’t want people who don’t care enough about an election to go to the polls on Election Day, let alone take time out to learn about the candidates from sources as non-partisan as the League of Women Voters (something we’ll never be able to do) to have a vote.
I want voters to care about their responsibility and at least go to the hall where and when the vote takes place (unless they request an absentee ballot because it’s physically impossible for them to travel or be in the area).
They should have, until the polls open, a chance to learn who they’re voting for and make up their minds - and consider what they are doing important.
1
The GOP always shouts about voter fraud because they spend most of their time trying to stop people of color from voting so they assume everyone is as corrupt as they are. Scott ran the place so if its this bad why didn't he fix it?
837
@Thomas Renner Because he was too busy ripping off the voters. Charity begins at home, you know . . .
35
@Thomas Renner
If all of the states had the Oregon voting system, where every registered voter recieves and may return a ballot in the mail, the will of the majority would prevail, polling place grid lock would be eliminated, an unhackable paper trail would be irrefutable evidence of the vote and it would cost billions less.
50
@Thomas Renner
Who are " people of color"?
All people are colored by their evolutionary fit pigmented ancestor's response to varying levels of solar radiation at altitudes and latitudes primarily related to the production of Vitamin D and protecting genes from damaging mutations.
There is only one biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit human race species that began in Africa 300, 000 years ago.
9
Thanks for the thorough look at what is happening in Florida. I am curious as to why Dr. Snipes is referees to as Ms. Snipes? Also, what oversight does a governor have over an elected elections official, prior to any polling occurring?
4
@Kathy Folley
It is AP style which the NYT follows. The title Doctor is only used with medical doctors.
1
After engaging in gerrymandering and institutionalized voter suppression on a massive scale, Republican candidates have no right to complain about imaginary voter fraud. The election in Florida is being conducted legally and fairly, according to Florida’s own law enforcement authorities. The Republican Party can’t tolerate fair elections, of course, since they are afraid of the majority actually winning.
13
It's not incompetence - it's over-serving. I, as many Floridians, vote by mail. The ballots are received about a month before the election. To accept and count votes received AFTER the election should be eliminated. And, provisional ballot processing needs to be updated; our poll workers are not handwriting experts. I applaud Florida Election officials for their commitment to proactively register qualified voters and to take every vote into account. It's past time to set voter deadlines and identification rules and stop over-serving/accommodating which leads to this chaos. Close races are a good thing...recounts should be for verification and not correction.
1
I know this seems off the topic, but, isn't the competent running of an election the responsibility of the governor of the state---and who might that be? It would seem to me that the level of incompetence we are now all witnessing in that state would not justify a promotion to the United States Senate. After years working as a manager, I am continually taken back my a political class that defies normal performance review processes. No matter how incompetent a politician maybe, even to the point of being indicted, they not only get elected again, but they are placed in a leadership role.
10
Because that's what a lawyer, who has worked in (manipulated to his benefit) the healthcare industry will do to succeed.
5
There are 67 counties in FL. Of that, about 6 lean Dem. I would think a recount in all counties, including those 59 that lean Republican, might even pick up votes for Scott and DeSantis. What are they hiding? Why are they so afraid of a true vote count?
6
The problem here is that "recounts” and "newly found ballots” seem invariably to favor Democrats. As a statistical matter, that is somewhat unlikely. So the suspicion is inevitable.
1
@Mike Livingston Not unlikely in Broward County. If this was the Panhandle (aka Lowe Alabama), you would have a point
1
If Ms. Snipes was duly elected how can the Governor fire her?
No election should be called until each and every ballot has been counted. This is the real problem. And simple to fix. Of course Scott, DeSantis et al do not want it fixed. They would rather yell fraud than await the full results.
4
Fraud is a loaded word and ill-advised but there is a war, so to speak, again in Florida and Broward County officials have not met legal standards and courts have forced them to allow transparency. They have had 18 years to clean up their act. It may be innocent and just incompetence or something else. One peril that lies ahead is if Broward County cannot complete the simultaneously required recounts by the deadline and the count reverts to election day count. Then a protracted struggle leading all the way to the Supreme Court looms. In the current divided nation this is like a lighted match near explosive material.
1
In every state with Republican governance Republicans steadily cry fraud in relation to voting, and insist on “reform” that just happens to disenfranchise voters seen as likely Democratic votes. Rick Scott seems awfully surprised about this “outrageous” fraud for a guy who’s run the state for two terms and had some opportunity to push for fixes to antiquated processes or equipment. With the modern, bad-faith Republican Party, “every accusation is a confession” is a highly useful analytical tool.
10
Who is and has been the governor in charge of Florida? Oh yes, that’s Scott. If he can’t serve Florida constituents properly why elect him to the Senate?
8
We, in the state of Florida, do not properly fund the franchise process creating an outdated, cumbersome system overwhelmed and under stress. All the better to keep those taxes low for the well -to - do not so well for serving our democratic republic.
5
The same Rick Scott who oversaw rampant theft of Medicare funds as CEO of a healthcare company is about to be reelected to another position as a member of the party that allegedly protects taxpayers from reckless spending, all while stoking fraud allegations.
Much as I want to blame incompetence and archaic voting technology, the main problem continues to be the voters.
10
The Republican deplorables in Florida are shouting voter fraud just like their despot leader Trump shouted after his 2016 election when he lost the popular vote by 2.8 million votes, a margin of 2.1%.
The Republicans have been engaged in voter fraud all the way back to the election of President Andrew Johnson. They have given us GW Bush (thank you President Bush for the never ending Iraq War which spawned the never ending Afghan War and destabilized the entire Middle East) and then saddled us with Trump the Corrupter in Chief and they are still at it in Florida, Georgia and have been working to suppress voting rights for decades - all with disastrous results for America.
5
Get this story reported properly. Both the Senate and Governor races had vote count that saw Republicans ahead. Recounts by law occur when those counts within a certain percentage of each candidate. That when the fun begins in certain counties with Election supervisors with a history begin to find boxes of ballots, mail ballots at the USPS that arrived late etc all Democrat votes. Surprise, surprise voters who are not citizens were found to have been allowed to vote and perhaps the dead have long voted in these particular counties. Florida obviously has been unwilling to change it's election processes to eliminate fraud. It sure makes the Russians happy, I am sure - get it Florida.
3
@Realist Did you actually read the article, or just skim it? The "box of ballots" had supplies in it, not ballots, and the ballots at the USPS were in Miami-Dade county, and they weren't allowed. The evidence of non citizens voting and of dead people voting is purely conspiracy theory on the part of certain Republicans online; there isn't a mention of either in this article.
2
It looks as though the Florida Republicans are getting ready to to win dishonestly what they couldn't win with votes, just as they did with Bush. And once again get away with it.
2
In 1987, the book Texas by James A. Michener talked about voter fraud in Texas. It said that one county in the state was always the last to report their votes and regardless of how many people were registered in the county, always delivered enough votes to elect the correct state candidate. OK, I know that was fiction but we also know voter fraud has existed since the invention of voting. Why do Democrats keep repeating, there's no voter fraud. There is no proof it exists. All the studies and experts say it doesn't happen. There is nothing to worry about. We don't need voter IDs. Personally, I don't trust the Republicans any more than the Democrats. Staten Island Congressman Donovan's vote total dropped 50,000 between 2016 and 2018. The Democrats increased 10,000 votes. It is hard to believe that 50,000 Republicans died, moved, decided not to show up, or converted to Democrats. Maybe there was fraud in 2016? And while we are at it, It is not just election fraud but auto insurance fraud, tax evasion, housing and food benefits fraud. I do know these are rampant since people openly admit to committing them. People whose lives are based on cheating don't want rules enforced it is pretty simple. If you don't want fraud stopped, what type of fraud is your family committing?
Republicans allege voter fraud in order to advance voter suppression measures.
In-person voter fraud is less common than being hit by lightning.
3
Gov. Scott (R) is in such a panic to remain in power that his greed has overtaken his patriotism. It is simply not good enough that someone who was duly elected by the people be in power, it's that he must be the one in power. Also, Republicans know how they stole the 2000 recount, and they're afraid that the Democrats will pull the same play on them.
3
Rick Scott and the GOP have had control of Florida for 8 years now. If the voting machine and operational procedures in counting and recounting votes have not been upgraded or re-examined and those recounting votes are not properly trained it’s ultimately his responsibility for not funding or overseeing the people and equipment. Each example I have read amounts to incompetence at worst, not fraud. I’ve yet to read an example of malfeasance on either side during the recount. Undermining the voting processes only throws doubt on the legitimacy of the results, but it’s a lot easier than actually addressing the problem between elections. There are plenty of questionable practices going on to exclude people from voting and redrawing district lines to make some people’s votes more valuable than others, but people working hard to recount ballots in a tired and limited system is the best we’ve got right now, so calm the politically motivated outbursts and wait for the result.
7
Incompetence is plain in sight in some Florida counties. Putting new people in charge of the election process would solve the problems. And this would not have to be a partisan task.
4
@boroka
You will be handing over your evidence to the FBI?
5
@boroka And how many republican governors allowed it to continue?
3
@Maryellen Simcoe There is nothing partisan in my suggestion of getting rid of incompetence.
2
Why? Because there was fraud, Scott and other GOP folks know it because they were the ones perpetrating it, and they want to get out in front of it by 1) delegitimizing recounts, or, better yet, 2) simply stopping recounts. Trump and Scott went nuclear much too quickly and tipped their hands. Florida has a messed up election system for a reason: so it can be manipulated without leaving fingerprints. Rick Scott has been running the state for years and didn't expend much time or resources in fixing the problem -- and here we are, like magic: apparent fraud....
The recount must go on. Afterwards, someone has to go in, likely from outside the state, to actually fix overlapping voting problems in Florida. Republicans cannot win national elections without Florida, but that is not our problem. Free and fair elections are the issue and it is clear that they will not happen in Florida without evenhanded oversight and a sincere desire to work through multiple, overlapping issues in the Florida election process.
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The whole voting process needs to be more transparent to everyone. The rules that people use to count the votes must be published and made available to voters on election day. Voting machines must print a paper receipt that the voter should take home with them. Results must include all votes including write in votes. Absentee ballots must arrive before the polls open on election day so they can be the first to get counted. Some places will only count them if a race is close. And everyone who is a US citizen over the age of 18 must be able to vote.
Visually impaired people have filed a Civil Rights lawsuit in Michigan over voting machines in Michigan not casting their ballots correctly and being too difficult to use. I would encourage others with visual and physical impairments to file suit as well if they had difficulty voting. Their votes are important.
People can get involved with the election process including counting the votes. I hope more people get involved.
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I'd like to ask the reporters, or an informed reader, if mail in votes are counted in real time or only if there's a "close" result. Is the practice the same in Palm Beach vs Broward county. More and more voters utilize mail in ballots and assume they are being counted.
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@David
You can look online, David, and see if your mail-in ballot was counted.
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People who refuse or don't learn from history are going to repeat it. Florida is Y2K all over again. But of course, the Republicans are counting on it. And the Dems? They prefer petty intraparty infighting to shoring up support from the independents. Had they thrown their support to Charlie Crist long before he converted, Scott would not have snaked his way in. And has he done anything for the Floridians?
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Scott's undermining confidence in the election, and therefore democracy, in itself demonstrates his unsuitability for elected office.
Just like Trump.
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@Svrwmrs
Scott IS the election.
Its his state. Its his election department. Its his responsibility, no-one else's.
Scott is also well trained in the Republican strategy "cause whatever trouble you can through sloth and incompetence; if it ever comes to light, blame Democrats or immigrants, and claim 'America Is Under Siege'"; file suit to keep everyone who isn't you from getting your stuff; blame God or the weather or bizarre random fate for every misstep you made along the way; go home, get a great night's sleep, knowing you had the wicked courts in your pocket all along; imagine what you would do with all that cash if you didn't have hold these pretend elections all the time.
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If the voting process in Florida has not been modernized in a secure way, the buck stops at the governor. During his tenure, Rick Scott should have encouraged and funded secure free voting across his state.
It's rich of him to file lawsuits alleging supposedly misdeed on his watch (Scott vs Scott?). And Mr. Gaetz says they are finding votes for Al Gore--Is he telling us that in 2000 a conservative Supreme Court stopped the counting before all ballots were in? That's what all of us thought at the time.
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@A. miranda The "Al Gore" votes are probably write ins.
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@A. miranda Gaetz was just engaging in hyperbole; notice the beginning of his quote "For all I know". After that, he didn't have a single supportable thing to say, but that is how Gaetz runs all of the time.
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Time heals all wounds. In the case of Florida, rising seas will in time submerge all these contested counties and fish will swim through the underwater forests of hanging chads.
That's assuming the water is still able to support life.
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Along with Maine....
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To set the record straight, those punch card ballots with chads are history. We use paper ballots and fill in the ovals with pens. We then feed it into a scanning machine with election officials watching. Furthermore, both parties are allowed to have their designees present for the purpose of oversight.
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@There
Actually, Maine's coast line is very rocky, and quickly ascends to at least 100 feet above current sea level. Most of Florida will be underwater before Maine takes a big hit.
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Times never change. Lyndon Johnson, as is well known, won his 1948 US Senate race by 87 votes....which mysteriously floated in well after polls closed, and which apparently included a list of people in the local cemetery who all voted in alphabetical order. Read all about it in Caro's biography. But the NYT is skeptical of voter fraud?
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@JPE Oh, there was plenty of voter fraud, but it was accomplished before the election. It was laws rewritten to eliminate voters from the books. Guess, in some cases, it was too little, too late. I'd sure like to hear more about the Georgia election after all those cancelled voters get to have their say in this *free* country's election.
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Donald Trump spent millions of federal taxpayer dollars looking for this kind of fraud, and ordered states do the same, talking about busloads of illegal voters showing up - though no election worker ever saw them.
Our technology for verification of a voter’s s status, especially whether s/he’s alive is vastly improved.
All those additional dollars spent to “prove” Trump won the popular vote simply proved him a liar.
The days of “Landslide Lyndon” in a state where laws were rarely enforced are long gone.
The new crime is continued gerrymandering- currently favoring the GOP - based on court decisions- and efforts to disenfranchise people who might vote against the party in power based on registration or ethnicity.
If provisional ballots, kept in a locked and sealed box, with signatures of representatives of all parties on the ballot, or those absentee ballots arriving a day late because of the post office, not by cancellation date cannot be trusted - when the computer registering deaths reports to the one printing election roles, when people who might vote for the outs are the only ones whose ballots are questioned, we have a problem of a kind you want us to ignore - because of violations that occurred nearly a century ago.
Oh, and yes, the Dixiecrats owned Texas then the way the GOP owns Florida at the moment, and owned it when President Gore was defenestrated by the owners.
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@JPE
And those dead voters all used the same pen to vote alphabetically.
Rick Scott is the new "Landslide Lyndon".
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The GOP has been a rapidly shrinking party for many years. Think about the election racket conducted in Florida in 2000, which led to GW Bush taking office versus Al Gore, who won the state narrowly but rightfully and won the popular vote. Where would the world be now without the Iraq War which led the Middle East to go up in flames and nationalism to flourish. Would the earth to be well on the way to destruction by climate change without 10 years of unelected, right-wing Presidents in charge?
They did the same things then that they're doing now. They know that Broward County is always late, and if just one vote ahead in the preliminary count they claim victory and immediately send in their staffers to chant fraud if one vote more comes in. Remember the pre-printed signs that said "Sore Loserman"? This time it may be that Democrats have wised up, we all should hope.
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@laurenlee3
I would add: Would the World Trade Center still be standing if there was a not-asleep-at-the-wheel administration in place at the time?
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Here they go again, the GOP trying to obstruct democracy for the sake of their own reprehensible thirst for power. If they are so committed to Florida and legitimate government, they would let every single vote counted twice until a winner is decided.
Just imagine the good things it would do to Rob De Santis' mandate if he acted in a gracious and accomodating manner? If he had the attitude of someone committed to American values, his standing would be so much stronger. The alternative is is current behaviour, which is to act childish and like a desperate weasel. In victory, it would tarnish his stewardship straight away and would remain with him for his entire governorship.
Think twice and wisely, Republicans.
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A complete travesty. The governor (and candidate) needs to tamp down his rhetoric.
Why is it always Republicans calling fraud, enacting " impossible to fulfill " conditions in order for likely Democratic voters to exercise their franchise?
Sure there are problems with recounts in the very close elections--American voting is complex with all the varieties in how to vote.
But politicians like Gaetz who shoot off their mouths and make rabid accusations don't help the broken system in FLA.
I hope the next governor enacts some vitally needed programs to make voting simpler and safer and easier dying or recounts--until the level of political rhetoric swirling around Florida voting is tamped down and the system made more uniform and automated, Florida will always remain the poster child for problem voting.
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@ChristineMcM Those who 'do', are always suspicious of those who 'don't'.
People are always assuming that those 'others' would act exactly as they would act in the same position. They can't seem to get it through their heads that there are actually honest people in the world.
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Rick Scott is behaving as if he's in a panic to hide something concerning this election. I believe he is in fact in a panic to hide something.
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@jr Yup. They may just get having rigged the machines.
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A single ballot box containing no ballots is enough to get the Republicans hysterical that Democrats are counting votes. After all, Republicans are doing what they can to purge every Democrat from the voting rolls. Only Republicans, in the opinion of Republicans, are real Americans. Therefore all votes by non-Republicans are illegitimate.
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Also, who are the unnamed “political analysts” who say that the procedural violations are commonplace? Why does the reporter rank this anonymous claim, provided without any supporting evidence, more highly than the judicial findings?
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Given voting difficulties of 2000 and now 2018, with plenty of time to improve, I strongly recommend Florida be cast out of the United States to be its own entity and that it be replaced by Puerto Rico. Or Washington DC.
Florida is inimical to the health and welfare of our fine though divided nation.
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@Yuri Pelham But then you'd need a passport to visit your friends, perhaps some relatives, and so many others who've moved to the state of my birth to capitalize on our no-state-income-tax status
1
If Florida officials, especially the Republicans in control of its statehouse, really cared about elections, they would quickly shift to the Voter by Mail (VBM) system used in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. None of those states report the types of problems Florida does; VBM reduces costs; VBM increases voter turnout; and alleged voter fraud is non-existent.
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America has become a real mess. Nothing that happens in the political or public sphere goes without superlative ridden, hyperbolic challenge by its opponents. The polarisation of the country, as desired by its enemies, is almost total.
Americans themselves seem to perceive this somewhat but somehow cannot break out of the cycle. So many seem to lack the ability to think rationally, or beyond one step ahead and certainly to behave as such. What has happened?
To me, looking in, you have debased yourselves - Education, a social safety net that is useful and is not demeaning, healthcare, access to justice for everyone, these are the obvious basics for a functioning society. Unfortunately it seems they are missing for most of you. I hope you can get them back.
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@Jens Jensen:
It is not the fault of the majority in America - It is the minority Republican Party that has seized control through decades long mass propaganda effort of hate, fear, lies, and division, political gerrymandering, systematic voter suppression, and unconstitutional actions by the (minority elected) Republican controlled Senate resulting in an unjustifiable conservative Supreme Court majority.
Citizens who can't be bothered to show up to vote must also share in the blame.
3
Alleged fraud will justify voter suppression in the name of protecting the vote. The Republican scheme is quite clear. The Democratic leadership is not
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The Trump 2016 play book is now bedside reading for every Republican. When Trump repeated the falsehood that the election was "rigged", it was done to put the FBI on the defensive and not go public with their investigation into Russian interference. The premature allegation of fraud in Florida is intended to discredit any result that favors Democrats. It's the American version of a Russian disinformation campaign. Get ready for another 5-4 Supreme Court case handing the Republicans a win.
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@Kvetch, I want a want a sad, angry and terrified emoji to put on your comment!
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Florida clearly has longstanding problems with its voting machines and procedures, but one wonders why Governor Scott hasn't addressed these in his eight years in office. And why he and Rubio are so quick to insist incompetence is fraud. They're in charge; they are Florida's leaders. Isn't it on them to ensure the integrity of Floridians' votes?
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@JKF in NYC
One could ask why the DEMs allow incompetent people to oversee polling places. I could see if there are multiple counties where supposed problems arise and it was different counties every election. But these are the same counties election after election. Fraud requires intent, however isn't it intent when you allow people who are known to be incompetent to remain in their position?
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@skramsv
"Isn't it intent when you allow people who are known to be incompetent to remain in their position?"
Well, I s'pose so: the intent since January 20, 2017, seems to be to destroy US democracy.
But as the comment states, the elections in Florida were run under a Republican administration, so what's your point?
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@JKF in NYC The problem isn't in the voting machines or those supervising the elections or fraud and bad weather. The problem is that the election is close and an automatic recount has been triggered. That's the law in Florida - what does the governor have against the law? All the barking and snapping about "fraud" is nonsense.
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Trump gave his presidency to Putin whose cronies now run our electoral process. Live with it until the Mueller probe exposes this and then months later, Trump goes to prison.
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As usual, the victims have to pay the price. In this case, their vote. All they did was vote. But Scott is screaming to shut down the vote. It may be incompetence, a high number of voters or both. But voting procedures after votes were cast, is not the fault of the voters. Force any stop of vote counting, and someone's right will be denied. Just the way republicans like to fly. If they can undermine the vote of Dems they will do it every time. Of course some republicans may get caught in a forced stoppage, but that is a small price if the republicans can cheat and win. They know they cannot win in a fair fight, and they never take a chance when cheating is so easy and there is no penalty when caught.
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Florida has had since 2000 to fix their election system - 18 years - still can't run an election to ensure votes are cast properly and counted correctly. In my opinion, there is no change unless the people responsible see change as a benefit.
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Feigned outrage is the modus operandi of the GOP. It was clearly on the agenda from before the Clarence Thomas hearing and was Ted Cruz's rant when Trump delivered his ridiculous charge again Cruz's father and and the disparagement his wife's appearance.Obviously the outrage was only he hadn't thought of it first. It served Mr Kavanaugh well when the only outrage was that he was nominated. It is normal every day behaviour for the GOP leadership and something Sarah Huckabee brings to the podium with stunning regularity.
Why is Mr Scott outraged? What is he afraid of?
It was feigned outrage when Agnew did it. It was feigned outrage when Nixon did it. It was feigned outrage when Reagan and his gang of traitors did it for Iran Contra.
Patriotism is on the second of last defense of scoundrels feigned outrage seems the choice for America's scoundrels.
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It takes money to purchase the machines for voting, machines for counting, for employees to staff the offices, for true professionals to manage. That money is often not forthcoming because it's taxes that pay for it all and taxpayers are notoriously tight-fisted. After the debacle of 2000 you'd think the citizens of Florida would have been willing to upgrade the system to meet the highest standards, but that clearly has not been the case especially when that means spending tax dollars. In addition, the Governor and other Republicans seem to want to get this over with as soon as possible rather than seeing to it that every legitimate vote is counted. Also, had my vote been delayed at the post office because of bombs that were sent to Democratic figures, I would want my vote counted. To have these votes cast aside because they arrived "late" due to criminal activity seems unfair under the circumstances.
Gov. Scott needs to act like a governor and not like a candidate He should convince me and every citizen of Florida that the recount is fair and transparent and untainted by politics. So far, he's failing.
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@SUW
Florida, like every state, has a budget. If the democratic right to vote were important enough to the elected officials then there would be money to upgrade the system.
Don't blame the public,blame those who most stand to gain from voter suppression - our elected officials.
We, not the politicians have a very long road to follow to "drain the swamp" but let's start with ensuring all citizens' voting rights are protected.
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With Rick Scott as Governor, it is as likely as not that there were voting irregularities during the vote in Florida. But with him at command, I would think it more likely that any irregularities or outright cheating would favor him, not Senator Nelson. The man at the wheel puts the car in the ditch, not the passenger.
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It's political grandstanding to sway public opinion to his side. If he accuses and creates suspicion about Nelson, the public eventually believes Nelson did something wrong. But he didn't. The vote was close, their laws require a recount. Scott will probably win anyway, but it's heartening that it is this close. It would be great if Nelson (and Gillum, and Abrams) won. That would make my day.
43