Attorneys for Florida Governor Rick Scott have filed a lawsuit demanding public records from Broward County that will help them answer three crucial questions about the outcome of the U.S. Senate race between Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson: how many voters cast ballots, how many ballots have been counted, and how many ballots remain to be counted.
Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes told reporters earlier today that she could not answer those questions, even as her office has posted new ballot counts that have allowed incumbent Senator Bill Nelson to close the gap between he and Rick Scott by more than 46,000 votes in the two days after election day.
Scott addressed reporters at the Governor’s mansion at 8:20pm about the lawsuit. During his remarks, he outlined his concerns, which centered on the absurd number of ballots that have been “discovered” in Broward and Palm Beach County over the past two days. He also accused Snipes of forcing election watchers to stand behind a glass wall far from the counting process and without any way to hear any discussion among the vote counters.
The lawsuit filed on Scott’s behalf in the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County, names Snipes as the defendant. The lawsuit states:
Voting in the 2018 General Election concluded November 6th, 2018. Two days after voting has concluded, the Supervisor of Elections is unwilling to disclose records revealing how many electors voted, how many ballots have been canvassed, and how many ballots remain to be canvassed. The lack of transparency raises substantial concerns about the validity of the election process.
In addition to the lawsuit, Scott has ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to launch an immediate investigation into what he calls “shenanigans” in Broward County.
As of the time of this post, Scott still leads Nelson by a slim margin of just over 15,000 votes (the official number continues to dwindle with every new batch of ballots found in Democrat counties).