November 08, 2018, 11:03 PM
2012BOSS302This is one of the things I can do from here is donate to this.
----------------------------------
Florida voted on Tuesday night, and they spoke loud and clear. Rick Scott was elected Florida's next Senator.
One person who refused to hear that is Bill Nelson. He is refusing to give up power and is demanding a recount. He even brought in the lawyer who represents Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi to lead this effort. This is a last ditch attempt by Washington Democrats to try to obstruct President Trump's agenda by stealing the Senate seat won by Governor Scott.
If they pull this scheme off, our Senate majority will be significantly weakened. With Nancy Pelosi now Speaker of the House, this would be a crushing blow to all the momentum our nation has built in the last two years under President Trump.
Recounts are expensive, and we need to make sure we're doing everything possible to keep Nelson and Schumer from stealing this election from the people. Our team is working around the clock, but we need your help.
If you can, please donate to our recount effort so we can make sure every vote is counted (again).
As the Governor likes to say, Let's Get to Work.
Jackie Schutz Zeckman
Campaign Manager
Rick Scott for Florida
https://secure.anedot.com/rick...tt-for-florida/17344November 08, 2018, 11:10 PM
12131 https://www.foxnews.com/politi...t-dems-stealing-raceGOP Senate candidate Rick Scott files bombshell lawsuits accusing Dem Florida election officials of trying to 'steal the election'By Gregg Re | Fox News
Accusing Democrats of conducting a coordinated effort to "steal" elections in a campaign of possibly "rampant fraud," Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott filed explosive lawsuits late Thursday against the top election officials in two heavily Democratic counties, as they continue to report new votes and three major races in the state appear headed for recounts.
In their lawsuit against Broward County, Scott and the National Republican Senatorial Committeee (NRSC) allege that officials there are hiding critical information about the number of votes cast and counted. And in a parallel suit against Palm Beach County, Scott and the NRSC charge that the election supervisor there illegally used her own judgment to determine voter intent when reviewing damaged absentee ballots, while refusing to allow witnesses to monitor the process.
"I will not stand idly by while unethical liberals try to steal an election," Scott, who is currently Florida's governor, said at a press conference outside the Governor's Mansion, as he slammed potential "rampant fraud" in the race.
Scott is running against longtime incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. On Thursday, a Nelson spokesperson tersely dismissed Scott's effort: “The goal here is to see that all the votes in Florida are counted and counted accurately. Rick Scott’s action appears to be politically motivated and borne out of desperation.”
The bombshell litigation comes hours after Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, in an extraordinary series of tweets that alleged incompetence if not outright complicity by Florida officials, charged that Democratic lawyers were "descending on" the state in a calculated attempt to "change the results" and "try and steal" several statewide races.
Also late Thursday, President Trump threw another wrench into the evening, announcing on Twitter that "Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach." He did not elaborate.
"Late Tuesday night, our win was projected to be around 57,000 votes," Scott told reporters. "By Wednesday morning, that lead dropped to 38,000. By Wednesday evening, it was around 30,000. This morning, it was around 21,000. Now, it is 15,000."
He continued: "On election night, Broward County said there were 634,000 votes cast. At 1 a.m. today, there were 695,700 ballots cast on election day. At 2:30 p.m. today, the number was up to 707,223 ballots cast on Election Day. And we just learned, that the number has increased to 712,840 ballots cast on Election Day. In Palm Beach County, there are 15,000 new votes found since election night.
"So, it has been over 48 hours since the polls closed and Broward and Palm Beach Counties are still finding and counting ballots – and the Supervisors – Brenda Snipes and Susan Bucher – cannot seem to say how many ballots still exist or where these ballots came from, or where they have been," Scott said.
A mandatory recount now appears imminent not only in Scott's race, but also in the agricultural commissioner race and Florida's high-profile gubernatorial contest between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis, based on new vote totals -- even though Gillum has already conceded. Florida law requires a machine recount when candidates are within 0.50 percentage points of each other.
Speaking to Fox News' "Hannity" Thursday night, Scott said, "we don't know how many votes they're gonna come up with. But it seems they're going to try to come up with as many votes as it takes to win this election. ... We're gonna fight this, and we're gonna win."
Earlier in the evening, he was just as direct: "No rag tag group of liberal activists or lawyers from D.C. will be allowed to steal this election from the voters in the state of Florida," he said outside his residence.
Scott's first emergency complaint accuses Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes of being "unwilling to disclose records revealing how many electors voted, how many ballots have been canvassed, and how many ballots remain to be canvassed," and charges that the uncertainty "raises substantial concerns about the validity of the election process."
The NRSC specifically allege that Snipes is in violation of the Florida Constitution and the Florida Public Records Act. They demand an emergency hearing, as well as a court order requiring Snipes to turn over information about ballots in Broward County.
Scott's complaint against Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, meanwhile, alleges that officials there illegally refused to allow Republicans, or any witnesses, to monitor the county's handling of damaged absentee ballots.
"Even more alarmingly," Scott further claims, Bucher "failed to allow the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board" to determine, as required by law, which damaged absentee ballots are valid and what the intent of the voter was in casting them. Instead, Scott and the NRSC argue, Bucher simply subsituted her own judgment for voters' intent.
The suit against Bucher demands an injunction requiring Bucher to make and compare duplicate copies of the damaged absentee ballots in the presence of Scott's representatives, and to allow the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board to determine voters' intent.
Rubio, in his barrage of broadsides against Snipes earlier in the day, pointed to the "slow drip" of tens of thousands of additional ballots that were reported throughout the day Thursday, most of which were favorable to several Democratic candidates. Rubio said those late disclosures violated Florida election law, which necessitates that mail-in and early voting ballots be counted within 30 minutes of polls closing.
"Bay County was hit by a Cat 4 Hurricane just 4 weeks ago, yet managed to count votes & submit timely results," Rubio wrote. "Yet over 41 hours after polls closed #Broward elections office is still counting votes?"
Rubio and Snipes both made it clear they have no confidence in the Snipes' integrity.
"A U.S. Senate seat & a statewide cabinet officer are now potentially in the hands of an elections supervisor with a history of incompetence & of blatant violations of state & federal laws," Rubio wrote, linking to a Miami Herald article describing several scandals that have gripped Broward County’s Elections Department.
Earlier this year, a judge found that Snipes had illegally destroyed ballots in a 2016 congressional contest, leading the governor's office to assign election monitors to supervise her.
“I think the problems are blown out of proportion,” Snipes said in October, in an interview with The Miami Herald. “Broward is nitpicked to the bone. Other places have the same problems, different problems. It’s just that they are not spotlighted like we are.”
At his Thursday press conference, Scott outlined some of Snipes' troubled history.
"In 2016, Brenda Snipes’ office posted election results half an hour before polls closed – a violation of election law," Scott said. "That same year, her office was sued for leaving amendments off of ballots. In 2014, Brenda Snipes’ fellow Democrats accused her of individual and systemic breakdowns that made it difficult for voters to cast regular ballots. All Floridians should be concerned about that."
Vote totals in several major races in the state are changing rapidly, on an irregular schedule and sometimes late into the evening. Scott was ahead of Nelson by roughly one-fourth of one percentage point as of Thursday morning, according to The Tampa Bay Times. The paper also said the agriculture commissioner candidates were separated by only 0.06 points. That race flipped in favor of the Democratic candidate on Thursday afternoon.
Broward County reported that significantly more votes were received in the agriculture commissioner contest than the much higher-profile Senate election. An attorney for Nelson's campaign suggested a computer error might explain that anomaly.
In the closely watched gubernatorial race, DeSantis' held a narrow 0.52-percentage-point edge over Gillum as of Thursday morning, extremely close to the 0.5 percent threshold needed to trigger a machine recount. Gillum has conceded the race, although his decision is nonbinding.
But by Thursday afternoon, unofficial figures had DeSantis up by just 38,515 votes out of the more than 8 million cast -- a lead of just 0.47 percent, low enough to trigger a mandatory recount, according to The Tallahassee Democrat. No recount has yet been announced by Florida's secretary of state, and the first unofficial count is expected to be verified Saturday by Florida's secretary of state.
"On Tuesday night, the Gillum for Governor campaign operated with the best information available about the number of outstanding ballots left to count," Gillum's campaign said in a statement Thursday evening. "Since that time, it has become clear there are many more uncounted ballots than was originally reported. Our campaign, along with our attorney Barry Richard, is monitoring the situation closely and is ready for any outcome, including a state-mandated recount."
Without providing legally sufficient justification, Rubio said, Democrat-controlled Broward and Palm Beach counties on Wednesday afternoon continued to report new ballots, cutting into Scott's already-thin lead and flipping the state's agriculture commissioner race to Democrats.
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher told Fox News that Palm Beach is still counting about 2,000 mail-in ballots where voters circled or highlighted (by drawing an arrow pointing at the candidate’s name) their choice, instead of filling in the appropriate bubbles.
Bucher told Fox News that elections department staff is going through each of the 2,000 mail-in ballots, and where voter intent is determined, a worker is filling in a new ballot on behalf of the voter. Where voter intent cannot be determined, the ballot is sent to the canvassing board to undergo review.
Elections officials are also reviewing 1,500 military and overseas ballots which are still being counted. Florida law allows military servicemembers to mail or fax ballots in. A provisional vote report is due in Tallahassee on Saturday by noon.
"#Broward election supervisors ongoing violation of #Florida law requiring timely reporting isn’t just annoying incompetence," Rubio wrote. "It has opened the door for lawyers to come here & try to steal a seat in the U.S. Senate & Florida Cabinet."
Florida law dictates that if the margin in any race hits 0.25 percent or lower, a manual recount of any ballots set aside from the machine recount will be ordered -- reminiscent of the scene in the 2000 presidential election, when the country was gripped by images of poll workers counting votes deciphering hanging chads by hand.
Broward County election officials did not return Fox News' multiple requests for comment.
Fox News' Heather Lacy contributed to this report.