TRUMP: KO SOLDIERS’ VOTES IN FLA.
Howls about ‘infected’ Fla. ballots, which include those from soldiers
What a way to honor the nation’s men and women in uniform.
As the rest of the country observed Veterans Day, President Trump on Monday demanded that election officials stop counting votes in Florida’s razor-thin midterms and instead “go with” the Election Day results — a proposal that would effectively exclude active duty U.S. soldiers from having their voices heard.
Trump also said that many of the mailed-in votes were fraudulent — despite a total lack of evidence to support his claim.
“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged,” Trump tweeted shortly after dawn, without providing any details or proof. “An honest vote count is no longer possible — ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!”
The Sunshine State accepts overseas ballots through Nov. 16, provided that they are postmarked by Nov. 6 — the date of the this year’s midterm election.
The exception is tailored to accommodate Florida voters living overseas — particularly members of the U.S. military stationed abroad.
Trump’s knock against American soldiers came as schools, banks, courts and government offices remained closed in honor of Veterans Day.
It also came less than 48 hours after Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American cemetery in Belleau, about an hour’s drive east of Paris. White House chief of staff John Kelly and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, attended the ceremony near the site of the Battle of Belleau Wood, which is legendary among Marines.
Jon Soltz, an Iraq War veteran and the chairman of the left-leaning VoteVets advocacy group, was incensed by Trump’s latest slight against service members.
“How many times does this guy have to show he doesn’t respect men and women who served?” Soltz told the Daily News. “From insulting POWs, to sending troops to the border for an election stunt, to dissing a Veteran’s Day ceremony because of rain, and now saying military ballots shouldn’t be counted, Donald Trump continually shows he has no respect for service, or those who served.”
A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis, Florida’s Republican candidate for governor, and Scott, the state’s Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, both held leads over their Democratic challengers on Election Day — but the margins were so thin that officials ordered recounts in both races over the weekend. The recounts were underway Monday.
Scott leads his opponent, Bill Nelson, by 0.11% while DeSantis led Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum by 0.41%, according to vote totals released over the weekend by Florida’s division of elections. Automatic recounts ensue if margins are less than 0.5%.
The automatic recount required by Florida law prompted Trump, DeSantis and Scott to claim voter fraud — though none of them have produced any evidence of tampering.
In fact, the votes Trump claimed “showed up out of nowhere” are all provisional and absentee ballots, which always take more time to count than regular ballots.
Scott, the current governor of Florida, had tried to get an injunction against election officials in liberalleaning Broward County because he claimed — again without evidence — that they had mishandled ballots. But his long-shot legal motion was tossed Monday by Broward County Judge Jack Tuter, who said he had seen no hint of election-related wrongdoing.
Tuter also urged Republicans to “ramp down the rhetoric” and contact law enforcement if they found any actual proof of fraud.
“If someone in this lawsuit or someone in this county has evidence of voter fraud or irregularities at the supervisor’s office, they should report it to their local law enforcement officer,” Tuter said. “We need to be careful of what we say. Words mean things these days.”
The Florida Department of State — which oversees Florida elections and is overseen by a Scott appointee — said over the weekend that it had seen “no evidence” to substantiate the fraud accusations lobbed by Trump and his allies.
Trump’s latest claims of vote tampering prompted Gillum, Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, to tease the President.
“You sound nervous,” Gillum tweeted at Trump.