Machine woes hit Florida recount
As ballot counters overheat, staffers have to redo work.
Florida’s TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — election recount drama is intensifying as lawyers return to court and tallying machines break down ahead of today’s deadline to complete reviews of the U.S. Senate and governor races.
Amid the turmoil, Republican Gov. Rick Scott agreed to step down from the state panel responsible for certifying final results. Scott is locked in a tight race with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and has already suggested fraud may be taking place in some counties. Critics have said Scott should have no role in overseeing the election given his close contest.
Some of the recount trouble centers on the Democratic stronghold of Palm Beach County, where tallying machines have overheated. That’s caused mismatched results with the recount of 174,000 early voting ballots, forcing workers to redo their work with no time to spare.
“The machines are old,” said Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, who said they underwent maintenance right before the election. “I don’t think they were designed to work 24/7 — kind of like running an old car from here to L.A. And so, you know, things happen to them.”
Meanwhile, lawyers for Democrats planned to ask a federal judge Wednesday to set aside the state law mandating that mailed-in votes be thrown out if the signature on the envelope doesn’t match the signature on file.
Multiple lawsuits — challenging everything from the rules used for recounts to Gov. Scott’s role in supervising the state office that oversees elections — are piling up in a Tallahassee federal court.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, citing a well-known “Star Trek” episode, said at a hearing Wednesday that “I feel a little bit like Captain Kirk in the episode with the Tribbles where they start to multiply.”
The developments are fueling frustrations among Democrats and Republicans as the recount unfolds more than a week after Election Day. Democrats have urged state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every vote is counted. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have argued voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP.
Adding to the fray, a top attorney at the Florida Department of State sent a letter last week asking federal prosecutors to investigate whether Democrats distributed false information that could have resulted in voters having mail-in ballots disqualified.
Four county supervisors turned over information that showed Democratic Party operatives changed official forms to say that voters had until two days after the election to fix any problems with mail-in ballot signatures. Under current law, a voter has until the day before Election Day to fix a problem.
The GOP candidates for governor and Senate, Ron DeSantis and Scott, hold the narrowest of leads over their Democratic counterparts, Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson.
Scott was in Washington, D.C., while the court battles rage on. He stood at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s left shoulder Wednesday when the Kentucky Republican welcomed GOP senators who will take their seats in January when the new Congress is sworn in.