Andrew Gillum WITHDRAWS his concession as recounts are ordered in Florida’s Senate and governor races after chaotic election, and Trump promptly accuses officials of ‘trying to STEAL two big elections’
- Secretary Ken Detzner ordered a recount for the Senate, Governor and Agriculture Commissioner races in Florida on Saturday
- His announcement came after the unofficial results in the races fell within the margin that by law triggers a recount
- Unofficial results show Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 0.5 percentage points
- In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s lead over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson is less than 0.25 percentage point
- ‘Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida!’ Donald Trump tweeted Saturday
- Scott asked his opponent to decline the recount saying: ‘It’s time for Senator Nelson to accept reality’
- Florida election monitors said they saw no evidence of criminal activity in Broward County run by controversial supervisor Brenda Snipes
- Results of the machine recount are due by 3pm on Thursday November 15
The Florida secretary of state has officially ordered a recount in the U.S. Senate and governor races, an unprecedented review of two major races in the state that took five weeks to decide the 2000 presidential election.
Secretary Ken Detzner issued the order on Saturday after the unofficial results in both races fell within the margin that by law triggers a recount.
The unofficial results show that Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by .41 percentage points.
In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s leads over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by .15 percentage points.
Detzner also ordered a recount for Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner race where Democratic Nikki Fried stands .06 percentage points above Republican Matt Caldwell.
All three races will undergo machine recounts with results due no later than 3pm on Thursday November 15 to the Florida Department of State.
Secretary Ken Detzner ordered a recount for the Senate, Governor and Agriculture Commissioner races in Florida on Saturday. Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s (left) leads over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson (right) is less than 0.25 percentage points
The Florida secretary of state is ordering recounts in the U.S. Senate and governor races. Susan Bucher, second right, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections and Judge August Bonavita, seated at center left, look at provisional ballots in Riviera Beach, Fla., Friday
If the vote is too close to call yet again by falling within a 0.25 margin or less, the three races will advance to hand recounts, due to be completed by November 18.
The state’s 67 counties had until noon Saturday to submit their unofficial ballot tallies.
President Donald Trump – who campaigned for both Scott and DeSantis – said that the recounts are a Democrat ploy to steal the election.
‘Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!’ the president tweeted on Saturday.
Scott called for his opponent DeSantis to decline the recount.
‘It’s time for Senator Nelson to accept reality and spare the state of the Florida the time, expense and discord of a recount,’ Scott’s spokesman Chris Hartline said.
Nelson responded saying he does not intend to back down.
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The unofficial results show that Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 0.5 percentage points
‘Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!’ Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday
‘We have every expectation the recount will be full and fair and will continue taking action to ensure every vote is counted without interference or efforts to undermine the democratic process. We believe when every legal ballot is counted we’ll win this election,’ Nelson said in a statement.
All the while protesters rallied outside the offices of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections in Lauderhill on Saturday where the final counts were made ahead of the noon deadline.
The recount announcement was made after Broward County election monitors said they saw no evidence of criminal activity in Tuesday’s midterm election, despite the county being run by a controversial supervisor who mixed in illegal votes and failed to reveal the number of uncounted votes.
‘Our staff has seen no evidence of criminal activity at this time,’ Sarah Revell, spokesperson for the state Department of Elections, said to the Miami Herald on Saturday morning.
Following Tuesday’s election, Rick Scott filed a lawsuit against Broward County and Palm Beach County, accusing Democrats of trying to steal the election on Thursday evening. He asked for Snipes to turn over several records detailing the counting and collection of ballots.
Snipes has been accused of ‘fraud’ in how she handled counting ballots in the election by Scott, President Donald Trump, and Republicans. She has a long history of controversies when it comes to vote counting.
The news comes as Florida election monitors in Broward County said they saw no evidence of criminal activity in Tuesday’s midterm election. The county’s Supervisor of Elections is Dr. Brenda Snipes, pictured above, has been accused of ‘fraud’ by Trump, Republicans and Rick Scott
Attorney Eugene Pettis (left) and Dottie Joseph (right), both of the Broward County Supervisor’s Office announced Saturday that all the county’s ballots have been counted
A crowd protests outside the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office Friday
Protesters chanted ‘Lock her up!’ and ‘Sneaky Snipes has got to go!’ outside the Broward County Elections Office in Lauderhill, Florida
The protesters targeted Snipes who has been accused of ‘fraud’ in how she handled counting ballots in the election by Scott, President Donald Trump, and Republicans
Florida Senator Marco Rubio tweeted a shot of boxes that reportedly had yet uncounted ballots in them in Broward- almost 48 hours since the polls had closed. The picture cast doubts on how accurately Broward County handled the election
She agreed to present 205 provisional ballots to Broward County’s canvassing board for inspection, and the board declared on Friday that 20 of the 205 provisional ballots were illegal due to mismatched signatures.
They were set aside then counted in a voting machine, but the results were not added to the election’s final total vote count.
On Friday the county didn’t know how to move forward with the invalid ballots.
‘We have found no clear authority controlling the situation faced by the board,’ Broward County Attorney Andrew Meyers said.
Broward County collected more than 600 provisional ballots on Election Day, but majority were deemed invalid by the board for reasons including late registration or voting in the wrong precinct.
Since the election two Department of Elections have been stationed in Broward County to oversee see the administration of the elections, visit polling stations and ‘ensure all laws are followed’.
In May Florida’s Secretary of State announced increased oversight after a court found Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes broke the law by authorizing the premature destruction of ballots pertaining to a contested race following the 2016 elections.
On Saturday Broward official hit back at fraud allegations in a news conference after the ballot tally, Snipes refused to confirm whether she had counted all the ballots for days. At the press conference her team said each ballot was finally processed, excluding overseas ballots.
‘There have been allegation of fraud. Those are serious charges to recklessly offer out there. To give a claim of fraud without any evidence, I think it unacceptable,’ Eugene Pettis, a lawyer for Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said.
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