• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, March 1, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

Florida State Election Hit by Chaos, Fraud Accusations and Lawsuits

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
11/09/18
in National
A voter in Florida

A volunteer sits at a polling station in Tampa, Florida, on October 22, 2018. Photo: Joe Raedle, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Florida has made a disturbing return to the election spotlight 18 years after the drama that launched George W Bush‘s presidency, as the state braces for race recounts amid accusations of corruption and voting discrepancies.

Two races in the southeastern state, for governor and U.S. Senate, hung in the balance Friday, three days after the contentious midterm elections that saw Democrats seize control of the House of Representatives from President Donald Trump‘s Republicans.

Most U.S. political races have already been settled. But Florida’s ballot chaos — rife with intrigue and Trump’s accusation of abuse by officials in Democrat-heavy counties — raises fresh questions about why the world’s most powerful democracy is incapable of producing swift and accurate election results across all 50 states.

Florida is not alone. In neighboring Georgia, the Democratic candidate for governor initiated legal action to ensure all votes were counted in her contest.

In Arizona, hundreds of thousands of ballots were still left to be counted in a fierce battle for the Senate as Kyrsten Sinema — currently a Democratic congresswoman — edged ahead of Martha McSally, a Republican congresswoman.

Florida’s Governor Rick Scott, the Republican challenging incumbent Senate Democrat Bill Nelson, filed a lawsuit against two election officials alleging fraud after his lead narrowed.

His race, and the one for governor, appear headed for mandatory recounts, which could delay a final outcome for days or weeks.

“The people of Florida deserve fairness and transparency,” Scott told reporters. “Every Floridian should be concerned there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward Counties.”

Scott said he was ordering an official investigation into his own race.

With the developments raising partisan tensions to fresh highs, Trump weighed in to allege a major corruption scandal was brewing, while fellow Republican Marco Rubio of Florida accused Democrats of a coordinated effort to “steal the election.”

“What’s going on in Florida is a disgrace,” Trump told reporters.

Scott “easily won, but every hour it seems to be going down,” he said of Scott’s lead which on Friday stood at 14,999 votes out of 8.2 million cast, a margin of just 0.18 percent.

“If you look at Broward County, they have had a horrible history,” Trump added, referring to a Democrat-heavy county where officials were slowly counting votes including absentee and provisional ballots.

When did I ask anyone to stop counting? And how is criticizing repeated election failures by same election official a fight to stop vote counting?

Why can’t #BrowardCounty elections do what 65 of 67 counties did, count all votes in timely way & in compliance with #Florida law? https://t.co/dtujSqotYG

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 9, 2018

537 Votes

Broward was at the heart of Florida’s bitter legal brawls in 2000. That year’s recounts in Broward and other counties were halted by the U.S. Supreme Court, and George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes in Florida, giving him the edge in the electoral college and handing him the White House.

Scott’s lawsuits alleged a lack of transparency over the counting process and asked that further details be made public.

Rancor was spilling into governors’ races, where Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia were aiming to become the states’ first African-American leaders, but the contests were tilting in favor of their Republican rivals.

Unofficial results show Gillum trailing Ron DeSantis, a Trump-endorsed Republican, by just 36,165 votes, or 0.44 percentage points.

State law mandates a recount if the difference in a race is within 0.5 percent. If the margin is within 0.25 percent, as it stood in the Senate race, a hand recount — slower and more thorough than by machine — is ordered.

JUST IN: Trump accuses Florida county of preparing to falsify vote totals against him in 2016 https://t.co/4tm2AlLbVT pic.twitter.com/XDgDBFFSTr

— The Hill (@thehill) November 9, 2018

‘Highly Irresponsible’

David Lublin, a professor of government at American University, dismissed suggestions that corruption was to blame, and said the latest statements by Trump and Scott “are highly irresponsible.”

Broward County officials were simply taking deliberative steps to count all ballots, including absentee and provisional ones, he said.

“The good news is that since the 2000 election, the process has improved both in terms of how people vote in Florida and the designation of a recount,” he said.

And yet unusual voting discrepancies were being reported in Broward.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel said it analyzed voting patterns and found that of Broward ballots already counted, thousands made the unlikely choice of voting in lower-profile contests like for agriculture commissioner, but not for Senate, the marquee race on the ballot.

The unusual pattern appeared in no other Florida county, the newspaper reported.

Experts including lawyer Lawrence Norden have turned to a possible flaw with the ballot’s design.

“If this is the cause of lost votes, it is incredibly frustrating that somehow the state hasn’t gotten its act together to make sure ballots are designed in a way that don’t cause lost votes,” he told the Sentinel.

Florida Voters Pass Historic Voting Rights Expansion

Share4Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

LGBTQ Community Worried as Florida Rolls Back Local Conversion Therapy Bans
Featured

LGBTQ Community Worried as Florida Rolls Back Local Conversion Therapy Bans

by Deon Feng
November 25, 2020
A man holds a "Biden Harris 2020" campaign poster in a golf cart.
National

‘Anti-American Democracy Sentiments:’ Why Seniors Are Abandoning Trump

by Deon Feng
November 20, 2020
President Donald Trump takes off his mask at the White House
National

Mr ‘Immune’ Trump Back on Campaign Trail With a Roar

by Staff Writer
October 13, 2020
US voters at a polling station
National

Democratic Primary Proceeds in 3 States Despite Virus Pandemic

by Staff Writer
March 17, 2020
US President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Florida to officially launch his 2020 campaign
National

Trumps Deportation Threats Sow Panic Among Florida Migrants

by Staff Writer
June 27, 2019
A voter in Florida
National

Florida Voters Pass Historic Voting Rights Expansion

by Bryan Bowman
November 7, 2018
Next Post
US President Donald Trump

Right-Wing Radicals a Higher Threat to US than Undocumented Immigrants Ever Were

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, celebrate.

Democrats won in 2018, but will they win in 2020?

Recommended

Hatice Cengiz delivers a speech addressing the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Capitol Hill, May 16, 2019.

Khashoggi Fiancée Demands Punishment for Saudi Prince

March 1, 2021
People lay flowers in central Moscow at the site where late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was fatally shot, February 27, 2021.

Russians Mark Sixth Anniversary of Kremlin Critic’s Murder

February 27, 2021
What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

March 1, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Ethiopian refugees who fled the conflict in Tigray gather to receive aid at the Tenedba camp.

Eritrean Troops Killed ‘Hundreds’ in Ethiopia Massacre: Amnesty

February 26, 2021
COVID-19 vaccine

Syria Health Workers to Receive Covid Vaccine From Next Week

February 25, 2021

Opinion

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

March 1, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Stolpersteine in Greifswald, Germany.

I Can’t Mark Where My Grandfather Is Buried, but I Want to Mark Where He Lived

February 26, 2021
Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley

Trump’s Acquittal and Republican Senators: Not Setting the Bar Low Enough

February 22, 2021
Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

February 19, 2021
Refugee child holding up a sign reading 'we are human like you'

US Asylum Laws Must Catch up With the Reality of Today’s Refugees

February 18, 2021
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post