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U.S. NEWS Thursday 15 November 2018

Florida’s bitter recount battle lurches toward deadline

Continued from Front were designed to work
24/7 — kind of like running
Critics have said Scott an old car from here to L.A.
should have no role in over- And so, you know, things
seeing the election given happen to them.”
his close contest. Right now, Palm Beach
Trump, who has already County looks like it could
lashed out over the re- miss the Thursday deadline,
count, added to the grow- even though Nelson and
ing partisan firestorm by Democrats filed lawsuits
arguing without evidence seeking to suspend it.
that some people unlaw- Lawyers for Democrats
fully participated in the also asked a federal judge
election by dressing in Wednesday to set aside
disguise. “When people the state law mandating
get in line that have abso- that mailed-in votes be
lutely no right to vote and thrown out if the signature
they go around in circles,” on the envelope doesn’t
Trump said in an interview match the signature on file.
with The Daily Caller pub- No less than six federal
lished Wednesday. “Some- lawsuits have been filed so
times they go to their car, far in Tallahassee. Nelson’s
put on a different hat, put campaign has also filed a
on a different shirt, come in lawsuit seeking public re- Political observers, foreground, watch as employees at the Broward County Supervisor of Elections
and vote again.” cords from a north Florida office count ballots during a recount, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, in Lauderhill, Fla.
The state elections depart- elections supervisor who al- Associated Press
ment and the Florida De- lowed voters in GOP-heavy in McConnell’s Capitol of- lead over Nelson was 0.14 ence is 0.25 percentage
partment of Law Enforce- Bay County to email their fice, Scott did not reply to a percentage points. In the points or less, meaning it
ment, both run by Repub- ballots in apparent viola- question about whether he governor’s contest, unoffi- could take even longer to
lican appointees, have tion of state law. contends there was fraud cial results showed DeSan- complete the review of the
said they haven’t seen any U.S. District Judge Mark in the election. tis ahead of Gillum by 0.41 Senate race if the differ-
evidence of voter fraud of Walker, citing a well-known State law requires a ma- percentage points. ence remains narrow.
this sort. “Star Trek” episode, said chine recount in races Once the machine re- If the Senate race does
Adding to the fray, how- during a hearing Wednes- where the margin is less count is complete, a hand go to a hand recount, the
ever, a top attorney at the day that “I feel a little bit like than 0.5 percentage points. recount will be ordered in deadline for counties to fin-
Florida Department of State Captain Kirk in the episode In the Senate race, Scott’s any race where the differ- ish is Sunday.q
sent a letter last week ask- with the Tribbles where they
ing federal prosecutors to start to multiply.”
investigate whether Dem- The developments are fu-
ocrats distributed false in- eling frustrations among
formation that could have Democrats and Republi-
resulted in voters having cans as the recount unfolds
mail-in ballots disqualified. more than a week after
Four county supervisors Election Day. Democrats
turned over information have urged state officials
that showed Democratic to do whatever it takes
Party operatives changed to make sure every vote
official forms to say that is counted. Republicans,
voters had until two days including Trump, have ar-
after the election to fix any gued without evidence
problems with mail-in ballot that voter fraud threatens
signatures. Under current to steal races from the
law, a voter has until the GOP. The Republican can-
day before Election Day to didates for governor and
fix a problem. Senate, Ron DeSantis and
Meanwhile, problems con- Scott, hold the narrowest of
tinue to arise in Palm Beach leads over their Democrat-
County, where tallying ma- ic counterparts, Andrew
chines have overheated. Gillum and Bill Nelson.
That’s caused mismatched Scott was in Washington,
results with the recount of D.C., while the court bat-
174,000 early voting ballots, tles rage on. He stood at
forcing workers to go back Senate Majority Leader
and redo their work with no Mitch McConnell’s left
time to spare. shoulder Wednesday when
“The machines are old,” the Kentucky Republican
said Supervisor of Elections welcomed GOP senators
Susan Bucher, who said who will take their seats
they underwent mainte- in January when the new
nance right before the Congress is sworn in.
election. “I don’t think they During the brief photo-op