Gillum urges recount effort to continue
Just a few miles from where elections officials were preparing to recount votes in three statewide races, Democratic candidate for Florida governor Andrew Gillum urged the recounting to continue.
Gillum riled up more than a thousand of his supporters at New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday evening. The church hosted an event titled “Count Every Vote.”
Election offices statewide are busy recounting votes for the governor, U.S. Senate and agricultural commissioner races.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who challenged incumbent Bill Nelson for the U.S. Senate seat, filed a complaint about an hour before the event to get a court order to impound Broward County’s election equipment until after the recount.
Gillum likened the suit to voter disenfranchisement.
“They don’t get to shut down the process because they don’t like the outcome,” Gillum said to the crowd. “They don’t get to shut down the process because they’re not winning.”
Gillum’s opponent, Ron DeSantis has a 33,684-vote lead, or a margin of about .41 percentage points.
Meanwhile, Nelson trails Scott by 12,562 votes, or .15 percentage points.
Gillum’s stop in South Florida came on Veterans Day weekend,. He asked the veterans in the crowd to stand and thanked them for fighting for rights abroad before drawing parallels to Florida’s recount.
“We find ourselves right here in Broward County, demanding that those same demands values and principles are protected and preserved,” he said.
Gillum also reflected on his nearly two-year campaign for governor, commending voter turnout and his wins in counties such as Duval, which has historically voted Republican.
“I have every confidence that I ran this race to the best of my ability,” Gillum told the crowd. “I believe politics will be changed forever by virtue of what we did.”
Tundra King, who lives in Pompano Beach, said she has supported Gillum since his campaign first kicked off. King said she thinks Broward County should have put more staff and money into the votecounting process.
“If it takes more time, if it takes days, that’s what it takes,” King said. “As an American citizen, we deserve to have our right to vote.”