Move over 2000 Bush-Gore presidential election. There’s yet another vote recount dispute in Florida — and this time, Georgia is along for the ride!
Politics
If you thought you knew who won the Florida governor and Senate contests, as well as the governor’s race in Georgia, guess again. Despite popular belief, the fat lady has NOT sung and it ain’t over until it’s over.
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FLORIDA
On election night, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum conceded the race to Republican Ron DeSantis. However, his waving of the white flag appears to have been premature now that thousands of absentee and provisional ballots have begun pouring in and has tightened the race to a razor-thin margin.
Unofficial election results from Tuesday night showed DeSantis ahead of Gillum by 0.44 percent. Additionally, in the Senate contest between Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican challenger Rick Scott, the vote margin was only 0.18 percent in favor of Scott.
Under Florida law, a margin less than 0.5 percentage points requires an automatic recount of ballots. Both contests in the Sunshine State are now officially considered too close to call and will undergo a state-mandated recount.
Oh, wait. There’s more.
Late last week, a teacher at a Broward County elementary school (where voting took place) found a box labeled “Provisional Ballots” carelessly left inside a school closet. After collecting the box from the school, election officials ruled that no actual ballots were left inside the box. However, they did admit that the Broward County elections supervisor accidentally mixed more than a dozen rejected ballots with nearly 200 valid ones, effectively tainting the outcome.
Sound familiar, Florida?
In light of these late developments, Andrew Gillum has since withdrawn his concession and agreed that a recount of every vote in the too-close-to-call race is indeed of the utmost importance.
“I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unapologetic call that we count every single vote,” Gillum tweeted on Saturday.
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Rick Scott was up by 50,000+ votes on Election Day, now they “found” many votes and he is only up 15,000 votes. “The Broward Effect.” How come they never find Republican votes?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018
Despite Donald Trump’s words to the contrary, Sen. Nelson never conceded to Rick Scott and is also waiting for the full results to be made official and certified.
As for Rick Scott (who, until a few days ago believed he was the winner), he has announced a lawsuit against the Palm Beach and Broward county supervisors of elections, saying “there may be rampant fraud” in the counties that heavily favor Democrats. He has also asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate.
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GEORGIA
The gubernatorial contest between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp has turned ugly and is now headed to the courts.
On election night, Kemp declared himself the winner despite thousands of provisional ballots that remained uncounted. He is also actively pressuring Abrams to concede and let him be the governor-elect.
“Stacey Abrams’ antics are a disgrace to democracy and completely ignore the will of the people,” Kemp said in a statement. “Georgia voters have spoken. It’s time for Abrams to listen and concede immediately.”
Aside from the countless votes in Georgia still left to be counted, the Abrams-Kemp contest is also about an issue of fairness.
Until late last week, Kemp was Georgia’s Secretary of State, meaning HE was the person responsible for overseeing the election, including voter eligibility. However, Kemp used his office to secretly remove thousands of otherwise eligible voters from the voter rolls, placing election integrity in question. Political operatives begged him to resign while a candidate, if for no other reason than to prevent the perception of foul play — but Kemp refused.
On Friday, however, Kemp announced that he is immediately stepping down as Georgia’s Secretary of State. Too bad his move is too little, too late.
With election improprieties seemingly running rampant in Georgia (in the form of voter suppression and disenfranchisement) combined with the razor-thin margin separating Abrams from Kemp, this race also appears headed for a recount.
However, with Kemp’s fingerprints all over the voting process up to and including election day, Stacey Abrams has a legitimate legal case. On Sunday, the Abrams’ campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court to assure that all previously rejected absentee ballots and provisional ballots be counted. Additionally, the campaign could file other lawsuits against Kemp and/or the State of Georgia to demand that every single vote is accounted for.
“In short, our legal strategy is simple: Count every vote,” campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said on Sunday.
So, hold your horses, Florida and Georgia. The fat lady has NOT sung and it ain’t over until it’s over!
Why is it always Florida with the problem? I don’t care how long it takes they have to count everybody vote no matter what. Trump is already saying he thinks Florida should skip recounting and let the Repub win so that is more reason to make sure this is done fair and every vote is counted.