Florida election recount evokes drama of 2000
Donald Trump accuses Democrats of trying to ‘steal’ senate seat as lawsuits from both sides mount
Donald Trump has accused the Democrats of trying to “steal” two elections in Florida, amid an increasingly acrimonious recount that has evoked sharp memories of 2000 presidential election.
Both the race for state governor and remaining senate seat had been declared for the Republicans following last week's US midterms, but the closeness of the results means a machine recount has been ordered by law.
The deadline to recount over 8 million votes has been set for Thursday, but analysts say possible legal challenges mean it could take weeks for the winners to be confirmed.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott, who is currently leading his incumbent Democratic rival Bill Nelson for the senate by just 12,500 votes, or about 0.15% of the total vote, has asked a judge to order police to impound voting machines and ballots when they are not in use. He has also filed a separate lawsuit asking the judge to order that any ballots counted after noon on Saturday be disregarded, saying that to include them would break state law.
CNN says the suits are “part of a larger developing Republican strategy to cast the recount as an opportunity for fraudsters to hijack the election”.
Ramping up the rhetoric, Trump urged Florida election officials to abandon recount efforts and declare Scott the winner. Both men have warned of electoral fraud, “but neither have offered any evidence to back their claims”, reports the BBC.
Yet the Democrats are giving as good as they get. Nelson has also filed a federal lawsuit asking that provisional and absentee ballots not be rejected because election officials deem that the signatures do not match voters’ signatures on file.
“If Rick Scott wanted to make sure every legal ballot is counted, he would not be suing to try and stop voters from having their legal ballot counted as intended,” Nelson said. “He’s doing this for the same reason he’s been making false and panicked claims about voter fraud - he’s worried that when all the votes are counted he’ll lose this election.”
“Each side has accused the other of trying to subvert democracy” says Reuters, “in an echo of the drama in the 2000 presidential vote recount that unfolded for weeks in Florida.”
Almost two decades after hanging chads and butterfly ballots earned South Florida ignominy in the 2000 presidential recount, it is “once again ground zero for a closely watched recount”, says NBC News.
The scene of the infamous Bush vs. Gore recount 18 years ago, the Broward County Election office has been newly fortified by layers of police and private security forces to protect vote-counters from the protests raging outside.
“It was like deja vu all over again walking in here,” said Larry Davis, an attorney who has monitored elections for Democratic candidates and officials since 2000.
“Of course that had a little more importance to it”, he added.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Damian Barr shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The writer and broadcaster picks works by Alice Walker, Elif Shafak and others
By The Week UK Published
-
The Great Mughals: a 'treasure trove' of an exhibition
The Week Recommends The V&A's new show is 'spell-binding'
By The Week UK Published
-
Big Tech critic Brendan Carr is Trump's FCC pick
In the Spotlight The next FCC commissioner wants to end content moderation practices on social media sites
By David Faris Published
-
Brendan Carr, Trump's FCC pick, takes aim at Big Tech
In the Spotlight The next FCC commissioner wants to end content moderation practices on social media sites
By David Faris Published
-
'This needs to be a bigger deal'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The political latitude of Musk's cost-cutting task force
Talking Points A $2 trillion goal. And big obstacles in the way.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
John Prescott: was he Labour's last link to the working class?
Today's Big Quesiton 'A total one-off': tributes have poured in for the former deputy PM and trade unionist
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freeze
Speed Read President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing is on hold, and his lawyers are pushing to dismiss the case while he's in office
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
'It may not be surprising that creative work is used without permission'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What message is Trump sending with his Cabinet picks?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION By nominating high-profile loyalists like Matt Gaetz and RFK Jr., is Trump serious about creating a functioning Cabinet, or does he have a different plan in mind?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published