In South Florida, Trump supporters demonstrate as Biden closes vote gap

With vote counting continuing in contested states, supporters of President Trump took to the streets on awet evening in South Florida.

“We are not protesting,” said Adelaida Rosario, as she stood alongside nearly 100 Trump supporters gathered in front of a La Carreta restaurant on Bird Road in Miami. “We are actually demanding fair elections.”

Among the crowd were members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group sometimes labeled as extremist.

Enrique Tarrio, the group’s chairman, saidthey were there to support the president as he continued his legal fight.

“In such a contested election, I think we’re going to have to see how this unfolds,” Tarrio said. “Obviously there is a lot of uncertainty about how this election is going.”

The supporters, most of them Latino voters who helped the president win Florida on election night, said they are drawing attention to what they perceive as voter fraud costing Trump re-election. However, election officials in many states have already debunked many of their specific claims.

Near the end of the rally, supporters gathered around a speaker hitched to a pickup truck to listen to the president address the nation. Trump echoed many of the claims supporters shared among themselves, alleging voter suppression and fraud that was clogging his pathway to victory.

When he said he had won Florida “easily” they cheered loudly. At the end of his speech, they chanted, “Four more years.”

Kevin Hynes, 21, stood listening to the speech and said he felt empowered by Trump’s words. “I think the president is completely right,” he said. “I think there is a lot of fraud going on.”

He said he hoped the president continued his fight. “I definitely think he should push back, and he should take it as far as it needs to go,” he said. “This fraud needs to be exposed and taken care of.”

The Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Florida organized the“Stop the BidenSteal” rallyinMiami. They organized similar rallies in Orlando, Naples and St. Augustine.

Santiago Avila, Florida chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said that given reports of people “on the ground” in contestedstates like Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, they believe there are issues with the voting process causing Trumpto lose votes.

When asked for an example, he mentioned a viral claim suggesting over100% of voters turned out in crucial states like Nevada, North Carolina andWisconsin. “That only says one thing,” Avila said. “That’s voter fraud.”

However, fact-checkers have determined that a widely circulated image comparedthe totals ofnew votes versus data from 2018 insomecases. Thedataalso failed to take into account states that allowed sameday voter registration, like Wisconsin.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission tweeted the correct number of registered voters after tabulating all of those registered on the day of the election. The total amounted to about 300,000 less than the actual total of people who cast a ballot.

“There are never more ballots than registered voters,” the commission said.

Avila said Trump supporters have also been enraged over reports in parts of Pennsylvania suggesting Republican poll watchers have been placed too far away from ballot counting.

On Thursday, a court in Pennsylvania ruled that poll watchers can be within 6 feet of vote counting in Philadelphia.

“We are fighting to enforce our observers’ constitutional right to due process that Philadelphia County Democrats are blatantly denying,” Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement. “President Trump’s team will fight for transparency and accountability as long as it takes to ensure the integrity of the election for the good of Pennsylvania and of the nation.

The protest in Miami on Thursday comes as ballots are being slowly counted in contested states that Trump needs to win in order to secure his reelection. Trump and his legal team have launched lawsuits in a number of states contesting election practices.

He has also used his Twitter feed to amplify claims that fraud is costing him the election.

On Thursday, his lawsuits in Georgia and Michigan were dismissed.

Like others, the Proud Boys’ Tarrio said he imagines there will be more rallies and protests in the days to come as states are called and results are disputed. Although many speculated that the Proud Boys might intimidate voters during the election or start violence after contested results, Tarrio said the group has never had plans to do such things.

“Itmakes for good TV to demonize us,” hesaid. “We don’t have a history of that, and we’ve never had plans to do that.”

Later in the night, however, near the end of the rally, Tarrio grabbed a microphone and told the crowd to keep the pressure up.

“Stay in these streets,” he said. “Stay out here every day until we get these election results.”

Araceli Villaneuva, president of Miami Dade County Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said she believes it is important for Trump’s supporters to show their support of the president during this time and let others knowthat they will not sit back quietly.

“Yes, it might take a while,” she said. “But we are not just going to sit down and wait.”

Villaneuva said that many of Trump’s Latino supporters come from homelands with elections that have been rigged in favor of candidates. “But that is not supposed to happen in the U.S.,” she said. “We have the Constitution; wehave our rights.”

Jorge Luis, 43, said the way the election results were unfolding thus far were a reminder of his home in Venezuela, which he fled 26 years ago.

“I want my kids to live in a free country,” he said. “I don’t want them to go through what I went through in Venezuela.”

Organizers said supporters here in South Florida want to make sure that every “legal” ballot is being counted fairly. They also said recounts might be in order and they want to make sure that both Republicans and Democrats are present towatch them.

If after all that, Biden still ends up winning the election, they said that they will accept the decision.

“We’re OK with losing,” Avila said. “We’re not sore losers. But we’re going to lose fair. Just like if we’re going to win, we’re going to win fair. This is America. Things are done the rightway.”