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Scott Sues Broward, Palm Beach Elections Supervisors As His Lead Over Nelson Narrows

Republican Gov. Rick Scott accused the elections supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties of "rampant fraud" and announced Thursday his campaign has sued them over how they've handled counting votes since the election, as new ballots continuing to pour in have narrowed his lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

"We've all seen the incompetence and irregularities in vote tabulations in Broward and Palm Beach for years. Well, here we go again," Scott said outside the front door of the governor's mansion in Tallahassee. "I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the great people of Florida."

Scott's campaign filed lawsuits against the supervisors — Brenda Snipes and Susan Bucher — Thursday evening. He said he also directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to immediately investigate their conduct, and is considering "every single legal option available."

"It has been over 48 hours since the polls closed, and Broward and Palm Beach counties are still finding and counting ballots," Scott said. "And the supervisors — Brenda Snipes and Susan Bucher — cannot seem to say how many ballots still exist and where these ballots came from or where they have been.

"Every Floridian should be concerned there may be rampant fraud happening in Broward and Palm Beach counties," he said.

As the Democrat-heavy counties have counted new votes since Tuesday's election, Scott's margin has gotten smaller, now with just 15,000 votes over Nelson. The race is headed for a recount, as are the contests for governor and agriculture commissioner.

Around a  hundred people congregated on Friday in front of the Boward County Supervisor of Elections office in Lauderhill to protest against Brenda Snipes. Carrying Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis signs, voters rejected what they see as the supervisor's efforts to "steal the election away."

You can read Gov. Scott's lawsuit against Susan Bucher, Palm Beach Elections Supervisor, below or here

You can read Gov. Scott's lawsuit against Brenda Snipes, Broward County Elections Supervisor, below or here.

Nelson's campaign has hired a lawyer to oversee the continuing process of vote counting in Broward. His campaign has been concerned about "undervoting" in the county, because thousands of people voted in the governor's race but not the Senate race. That could be because the question was listed under instructions on Broward's ballot, and some people might have missed it.

Scott delivered his statement without taking questions. At the same time, Snipes was at the voting equipment center in Lauderhill with the canvassing board reviewing questionable ballots.

The board had just started examining provisional ballots from early voting moments before Snipes was asked if she was aware of the lawsuit.

“No, I am not,” Snipes said. She did not address it any further.

Bucher, in Palm Beach, did not answer a call to her cell phone Thursday night.

The lawsuit against Snipes in Broward was filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court by both Scott's campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. It alleges Snipes' office has withheld public records showing how many ballots have been counted and how many remain to be counted.

Scott's lawsuit against the Palm Beach County supervisor, filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Court, in part, alleges that his campaign representative was not allowed to witness the process by which elections staff create true duplicates of any ballots that may have been damaged. The lawsuit also says the county has not followed the correct review procedures for determining whether ballots are "overvoted" or "undervoted," meaning there are too many or too few bubbles filled in.

There were also issues surrounding uncounted votes in Broward during the August primary. Thousands of vote-by-mail ballots were discovered uncounted the day after the election.

There were two recounts in local races afterwards.

Snipes is still plagued by legal issues from a 2016 congressional race. In May 2018, a state judge ruled she had violated state, and federal, laws by destroying ballots early from the race in which Tim Canova challenged Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

UPDATE: This article was updated at 12:30 a.m. with additional information.

CORRECTION: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Nelson's campaign had also sued Broward County over the election.

Gov. Rick Scott held a press conference outside the governor's mansion in Tallahassee on Thursday night.
Jessica Bakeman / WLRN
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WLRN
Gov. Rick Scott held a press conference outside the governor's mansion in Tallahassee on Thursday night.
Around a hundred people congregated in front of the office of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections in Lauderhill to protest against Supervisor Brenda Snipes on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.
Caitie Switalski / WLRN News
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WLRN News
Around a hundred people congregated in front of the office of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections in Lauderhill to protest against Supervisor Brenda Snipes on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.

Copyright 2018 WLRN 91.3 FM

Caitie Switalski is a rising senior at the University of Florida. She's worked for WFSU-FM in Tallahassee as an intern and reporter. When she's in Gainesville for school, Caitie is an anchor and producer for local Morning Edition content at WUFT-FM, as well as a digital editor for the station's website. Her favorite stories are politically driven, about how politicians, laws and policies effect local communities. Once she graduates with a dual degree in Journalism and English,Caitiehopes to make a career continuing to report and produce for NPR stations in the sunshine state. When she's not following what's happening with changing laws, you can catchCaitielounging in local coffee shops, at the beach, or watching Love Actually for the hundredth time.
Jessica Bakeman reports on K-12 and higher education for WLRN, south Florida's NPR affiliate. While new to Miami and public radio, Jessica is a seasoned journalist who has covered education policymaking and politics in three state capitals: Jackson, Miss.; Albany, N.Y.; and, most recently, Tallahassee.