Trump urges Nelson to concede

Palm Beach official: County unlikely to complete recount by deadline

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — President Donald Trump sought to intervene in Florida’s legally mandated vote recount Tuesday, calling on the state’s Democratic senator to admit defeat and again implying that officials in two pivotal counties are trying to steal the election.

“When will Bill Nelson concede in Florida?” Trump said in a morning tweet. “The characters running Broward and Palm Beach voting will not be able to ‘find’ enough votes, too much spotlight on them now!”

There have been bumps as Florida undergoes recounts for both the governor and Senate races. Palm Beach County said it won’t finish its recount by the Thursday deadline. In Broward County, additional sheriff ’s deputies were sent to guard ballots and voting machines, a compromise aimed at alleviating concerns.

The state elections department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have said they have seen no evidence of voter fraud. A Broward County judge challenged anyone who has evidence of fraud to file a report.

Meanwhile, in Palm Beach, Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher said the county’s 11-year-old tallying machines aren’t fast enough to complete the recount by Thursday.

The county is doing the Senate race first and will then do the gov- ernor’s race. If the deadline is not met in a race, the results it reported Saturday will stand.

Also on Tuesday, a flurry of legal action continued. Nelson and a Democratic campaign committee filed two more lawsuits, including one that asks a federal judge to set aside looming deadlines for a machine recount as well as a hand recount, if it is ordered.

White House spokeswoman Mercedes Schlapp said Tuesday the president “obviously has his opinion” on the recount.

State law requires a machine recount in races where the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. In the Senate race, Republican

Rick Scott’s lead over Nelson was 0.14 percentage points. In the governor’s contest, unofficial results showed Republican former Rep. Ron Desantis ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41 percentage points.

Once the recount is complete, if the differences in any of the races are 0.25 percentage points or less, a hand recount will be ordered.