Florida readies for massive recount
The Senate race will be recounted, and the governor’s race could be close behind.
Election officials, campaign operatives and lawyers across Florida are gearing up for massive recounts in large part due to a familiar problem: Broward County, which has been saddled with election controversies ever since the disputed 2000 presidential race.
All eyes are on that problematic South Florida county – Florida’s second largest and one of its most Democratic – as it lags nearly every other in the state in reporting ballot tallies. The county’s results could help decide the races for U.S. Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner, which are headed for recounts.
The pressure is especially intense because the outcomes of the battles between Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott for Senate and Rep. Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum for governor could have big implications for President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection bid. Governors in particular play a crucial role in raising money and marshaling resources ahead of presidential elections.
On Wednesday alone, 22,000 new Broward votes were tallied, narrowing the margins further in Democrats’ favor in the races. And, thanks to Broward, the gubernatorial race on Thursday afternoon hit the threshold for a recount and Democrat Nikki Fried took the lead over Rep. Matt Caldwell in the agriculture commissioner race by a mere 583 votes.
With so much riding on the nation’s largest swing state – a U.S. Senate seat, a Florida Cabinet seat and perhaps a gubernatorial recount — Broward’s supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes, won’t or can’t say how many ballots there are left to count.
Lawyers from both political parties and the campaigns of Scott, Nelson and agriculture commissioner candidates Caldwell and Fried are already being drafted for the recount fight, and Broward is looking like ground zero for that battle.
Marc Elias, the lawyer leading Nelson’s recount effort, said he had no idea how many ballots were left to be counted in Broward.
“I think you would have to ask them [Broward County,” Elias said. “I don’t know. They are still counting in Broward County.”
Another problem with Broward: about 24,000 more people voted for governor than for U.S. Senate – even though the Senate race was at the top of the ballot and top-of-the-ballot races usually rack up the most votes. More Broward voters cast ballots in the state’s agriculture commissioner, chief financial officer and attorney general races as well – a phenomenon seen in none of the other 66 counties.
Elections experts suspect that poor ballot design may have contributed to Broward undervoting the Senate race in such large numbers.
Elias, however, said Nelson isn’t challenging ballot design. Instead, he said Nelson’s team believes that the optical-scan machines didn’t pick up poorly marked ballots. If the ballots are re-scanned, Elias believes the chances of the votes being recorded increases.
In an extra twist, a teacher at Miramar Elementary School in the county, Lakeisha Sorey, said she noticed in the old cafeteria of the school that Broward elections workers left behind a box labeled “PROVISIONAL BALLOT BOX.” Sorey, who sent pictures of the box to POLITICO, said she alerted her principal, didn’t know whether it contained ballots and didn’t touch it because “I don’t want anybody to say I tampered with anything. But I want to make sure that if there are votes in there that they’re counted. … It makes me question everything that’s going on — just the fact that I want everyone’s vote to be counted”
Though there are no concrete figures regarding ballots left to be counted statewide, there are some clues that indicate tens of thousands could be left.
In Broward County, for instance, in the state agriculture commissioner race, which is the second statewide race already under recount, there are 23,000 vote-by-mail ballots reported to the state versus those counted. In that race, Fried pulled ahead of Caldwell Thursday afternoon after trailing him by only 4,094 votes hours before, which means it’s within the state’s 0.25 percentage point margin to force a hand recount.
At this point, Elias said the campaign thinks there was a large undervote in Broward County, or voters casting ballots that indicated they voted in other races but not the Senate race. As evidence, he points to the fact that nearly 14,000 more people in Broward County voted in the attorney general’s race than U.S. Senate race. The U.S. Senate race was a much more high-profile race, with candidates known statewide and tons more advertising, which makes fewer people voting in that race notable.
“That, frankly, is not plausible,” Elias said.
Yet again, a VS of uncounted dem marked ballots. Happens across this country. every election when cheating is necessary for de m party to win.
I’m so sick of corrupt DemRats I could just sit on the toilet and blow out some Obamas, Pelosis, Schumers, Feinteins, Boxers, and a few Mad Maxines.
The Democrats are trying to steal the Florida elections to take away the Senate from the Republicans! This is a disgrace!!! Democrats just cannot accept losing! God I hope this does not happen. It is voter fraud!
Welcome to the Stalin area voting system.
(It matters not who casts the votes, what matters is who counts the votes)
exactly………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We need to take to the street if the other side winds
What a BUNCH OF BULLCRAP!
You would think that 18 years since the Bush-Gore election that Broward County could learn how to do an election properly and count the people’s votes accurately!
Gillum conceded the race, which, rightfully, means he accepted the results. He , therefore, Ron Desantis IS Governor Elect, and leader in Florida.
Possible fraud (stuffing the box) by democrats…so what else is new?
maybe Florida should have everyone come & vote again & provide security guards & video tape all vote counting! this whole voting thing should send out warning signals to all citizens! citizens should have to prove they are a LEGAL American before casting votes!
can federal government go in & oversee voting for federal offices like the Senators & Representatives?
these people should all demand they have new elections!
You know, it seems like a Democrat is loosing or has lost a race in Florida, good old Broward County comes to the rescue and a whole trove of uncounted votes mysteriously appear, every time. I’m not a conspiracy minded person but that is just too damn Coincidental. I think the Rank-n-file FBI Agents(not the top management) should be assigned to collect all absentee and early voting ballots and count them. Also they should be placed(several strong) in every voting precinct in that county and observe every ballot counted. After their final count on election night or the next morning, there would not be one more vote counted that mysteriously surfaced, not one!!! This County is one of the most corrupt Counties in the USA when it comes to voting. I think they have ballot boxes stashed in different places which are salted with Democratic votes to mysteriously be found when needed!!!
I hate the lying obnoxious Democrat party. They are lechers and sore losers.
If the ballots were not there to be counted and they are saying there are still an unknown number out then it is more than likely the usual dem stradegy of rigging a means of stealing the election that was won by Scott and De Santis—–Nelson plays dirty pool and it should be double checked to be sure no dead people or illegals voted
Trump is great ? and we are set for 2020.
❤️?????????
I don,t trust broward county elections officials they have throwed to many elections to the democrats
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION and communists demonc-rats are at the center of all this bullshitt………
this never happened years ago until the United States started being over run by illegal aliens and communists demon-rats……
Looks to me like Broward County is in bad need of something akin to the “Battle Of Athens.”
You would think this kind of ballot fraud goes on only on third world countries and banana republics. Think again, it is going on right here in Broward and Miami Dade Counties as you read this!!. Democrats demand all votes be counted over and over UNTIL THEY WIN!!
It is more like the Battle of Corruption.
Exactly!!!!!!!
Same thing happening in Georgia and Arizona as well…….
Okay time to start puttingpeople in jail in Broward County, this crap has gone on long enough, if Jail is what it takes to teach the liberal dem bloodsucking scum how to run an honest election then let’s get them in jail.
This is a bunch of bullshit. All votes were to be in within30 minutes of close of the polls. Another liberal stunt
This is all a bunch of BS, and these Democrats are trying to pull a real fast one on the citizens and if they get caught trying to taint this election they should all be prosecuted and dished out a very serious prison time of no less than 20 years!!! Let us all be aware just how corrupt these Democrats are for they have shown all of us just how unethical and how low they will go to get their way!!! Their is nothing that these people won’t do!!! I really believe that these Democrats and liberals want a civil war and I believe that they are going to get one, and they are really going to regret it when it happens!!!! It really is a shame that we have so many sheep in our country and want to end our Republic and the well being of our country for these people just don’t know how patriotic this country really is and just how important our freedom is to us and how important our Constitution is to us!!! I can only hope that these radical Americans wake up get educated on what this country is all about and why so many wars were fought and how many died to keep our freedom, because I believe these people have no real clue about our history!!!
AGREE, SORE LOOSERS
Agree!
I agree Tom!! They need to be educated in how our nation began…what the founding fathers envisioned…and how far we have gone off the path that made America great to begin with. A nation under God does not act like the Democrats do. This party is known as the party of demons. Killing babies…open those borders, making our country unsafe and draining the pockets of our tax payers to support them…..breaking the back of our economy by supporting other countries economy while draining our own and awarding money to those who hate us…a botched health care system which endangers our seniors. (population control?)…etc. etc. Everything they decree is good for our nation will in reality kill it.
amen, sir. if the American people don’t get a handle on this crisis. we could be a generation, maybe 2 generations, away from another full scale civil war. in light of the war on terror, that’s still being fought, a civil war will cripple us, ensuring our enemies’ victory over us. a divided nation is a defeated nation.
All those ballots must he recounted.
There are too many ballots that are
Questionable & must.be recounted so
Everyone can feel there was no ballots
That were not counted.
I TOLD THEM THAT THEY MUST CLOSE THE CEMETERIES ON ELECTION DAY, THAT IS WHERE THESE STRANGE VOTES ARE COMING FROM!
The losers will stop at nothing…………………..this won’t end…….they are already getting people to slip new ballots into these bins to help ensure they now WIN……
Our country is indeed, in bad trouble.
First off, Gillum conceded (quit, gave up) to me that was the end of the Governors race. Crybaby Nelson just can’t believe he LOST. So lets just waste more tax-payers money on useless recounts. I haven’t seen so much bovine feces from the fecal cephalic party in my life. The jackass party needs to realize that they are a bunch of CRYBABY LOSING SNOWFLAKES. Appears the stupidity from St.Lucie County has leaked into Broward County.
I joked earlier today about democrat voted ballots being found in someone’s trunk, but now it seems a box has been found? Who in the world would consider those ballots countable since they don’t really even know where they came from or who might have tampered with them (and geez, this happens on every recount for democrats…………the only difference is they weren’t in the trunk of someone’s car). And who knows now they may say those who did not vote on the senate should be counted as votes because they after all voted for the other 2 offices. Anything to gain enough votes to claim victory.
Why were only democrat votes in a box. Who you kidding. Sounds like an emergency stash of phony votes in case someone you wanted to win lost. Happens too often, to democrats to be credible.
Maybe they need to forfeit the entire election in that county until they can have the poll police handy?
Well it looks like to me once again that the “Dems” have to cheat to win!!
Florida’s second largest and one of its most Democratic Broward County, the most CORRUPT county on the nation want to steal the Florida election, AGAIN, with FABRICATED BALLOTS.
MORE DEEP STATE SHADOW BANNING.
This sounds like a case of we’re losing how many votes do we need to win. If they can’t count their votes in a timely manner, maybe they need some new counters!
Why is it always the Democrats votes that mysteriously appear from out of thin air. It only seems to happen when one of their candidate’s have lost. Why do we, as a country continue to accept this magic when we know that magic is phony.
22,000 new votes, 200,000 new votes or 2 million new votes. What is the difference ?? All that matters to the powers-that-be in Florida is that a Democratic is the newly elected official.
This certainly looks suspicious which is not new news from Broward or Palm Beach. Go Governor Scott get these problem people out of our state. We don’t trust what they have done and are doing down there. They think they are above the law!!!! Floridians have spoken. Again the Democratic Party cannot accept their loss!!!
Deomcrats = sore looserS yet again…If this isn’t another false flag..These people are the lowest of low bottom feeders and will stop at nothing because they are so blinded by hate..Truly the devil’s children…
This is a democratic set up because the big money schmucks in Broward county didn’t like the way the election results went so now they are paying people to come up with some BS stories and bringing in high powered lawyers from New York to change the election results. If they do there will be blood on their hands. Why is it that Broward county always has a problem and the women that runs the show was caught changing votes in the 2012 and 2016 elections and she still has a job. Broward county for those of you who know very little about South Florida has more big money millionaires than any county in the entire state and they are trying to buy the Democrats a senate seat and a governorship for the state. One thing it will prove is who are the corrupt judges and lawyers that control the state. You know who they are so it’s no surprise. The politicians could care less about the people of Florida especially those north of Broward county. They leave Dade County alone and you know the reason for that too.
democrats need more time to finish stuffing the ballot boxes with deceased voters and illegal voters so they can win !
Democrat corruption at it’s finest! They should also check the number of registered voters versus the actual votes! Bet they won’t match! They are even worse than Chicago & Illinois, if that’s possible!
Here we go again, democrats trying to steal an election. Why is this Broward county always lagging behind in getting their ballots counted and reported? Apparently the other counties don’t have a problem with Florida law concerning getting ballots counted and reported in a timely manner. I heard the Broward County suddenly found an additional 78000 ballots not counted. What? From where did these thousands of ballots suddenly appear.
I call BS on this whole process in Broward County. I hope people go to jail over this attempted theft. Democrats really have no morals, no conscience, no soul.
The FBI needs to start am investigation and check ea ballot to see if each individual ballot is legitimate !! STINKS OF FRAUD!!!!
There’s nothing new here except the Supreme Court will have to settle the vote count issue in Florida again. Same old play book.
Yea this is not right you can’t count votes after the election is over just because someone found a box of ballots because you do not know if someone messed with them plus you can’t keep on coming up with more ballots after the voting deadline. We deserve a honest election not one where the results are made up
Cheating and slander are in Democrats DNA. Always vote RED and get rid of Democrats.
These fucking democrats make me sick to my stomach. As one who has served his country for(8) years
proudly am ashamed of the leadership of this nation would allow these criminals to get away with the
criminal act. Please God, don”t let them get away with this game plan.
THEFT. this race will be stolen wih thousands of illegal voting, dead people, multiple voting — it’s the only way the dems know how to win. i’ve no doubt the left put several very busy fingers at work filling out those ‘absentee’ ballots.
HILIARY DID NOT WIN THE POP VOTE.
THE FIX IS IN!
This sudden “discovery” of overlooked ballots is an old story for Democrats. They did the same thing in Chicago and I understand in Texas that clinched the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. At that time I used to think only Chicago had corrupt elections. I do believe that the 2000 experience in Broward County, FL., leads to the conclusion that all election officials that are Democrats are schooled in the techniques of “How to steal an election”. Why conclude that? Because it happens so often. When caught, the penalties are not sufficiently harsh. As you can gather, I am a member in good standing in the 36% (+/-) group of folks who have no faith in our Government, and for sure not in the honesty of ANY Democrat. They are ONLY about fomenting division, and achieving and keeping Power.
Democrat voter fraud is making the US look like a third world country.
Just like Al Franken………its time to stand up for our duly elected officials and not stand for these antics in order to change the outcome of these elections.
You cannot ‘reacquire’ a ‘ballot box’ found in a school cafeteria and count those votes.
They have not been within the chain of custody, are are therefore NULL AND VOID.
This continued problem in Broward County IS ILLEGAL AND FRAUDULENT!
The counties that just had a Cat 4 Hurricane go through 3-weeks ago go ALL their ballots correctly counted…and ON-TIME, BUT SOMEHOW BROWARD COUNTY CANNOT DO THE SAME?!
THIS IS HOW AN ELECTION IS STOLEN!!
Democrats just can’t stop cheating ad stealing elections. Voter ballots keep coming right out of the swamps and the old bird that runs those polls doesn’t want to reveal anything…that makes two felonies twit!
They should not count any FOUND ballots for any reason.
Unbelieveable!!! If the ballots were real, why did they have to count them behind closed doors without a Republican witness…. And there is a NOT a democratic party anymore…..they are now the socialist party……Wake up America…
Fla has been notorious for hiding the peoples choices .the GOP seems to do every trick it can muster a false result.the supreme court theft of al gore’s presidency when the people actually chose him voted alo g party lines.i am sure bill Nelson actually won.
Being a conservative only means vote for big business interests an spend all money on wars protecting them.anything the people need is 2nd on list.
Same old song and dance. Sorry Democrats, your programs are lousy. President Trump is very popular because Florida voters tend to be older voters. They understand being responsible, which is something the Democrats have no idea of what that entails. If you want to hang your hat on the worst mid-term victory this century, go ahead, no one cares. Now that the Maryland districts can be drawn — the courts have declared those Democrats idiotic — correctly, by an adult, look for four to five additional Republicans in 2020, plus, 10 more Electoral Votes for President Trump. Also, we can not wait for Maxine to take the floor — she should be given 24/7 speaking avenues. Hang your hats on that.
Obviously that county is corrupt put all involved in prison and that counties votes thrown out for ever
Scum is as scum does, the dumb-o-crats are rats in political cloths.
Today HERE the democraps are 100% acting like the comunists from the country from where I left !!
Is not just beginning of this RED terror Is REAL a bolshewicz style.TEROR