As Florida begins its recount in three close races — governor, Senate, and agriculture commissioner — some things have changed since the contentious 2000 presidential recount, like uniform voting and vote-counting rules, and some things haven't: Politics, lawsuits, and a focus on the Democratic strongholds of Broward and Palm Beach counties. Gov. Rick Scott (R), whose lead in the Senate race has shrunk to 12,562 votes as Florida's most populous counties tallied their votes, has leveled unsubstantiated claims of fraud, and he and state Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) are leaning hard on state police to involve themselves in the recount.
On Thursday, Scott said he was asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate election officials in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The FDLE declined, explaining Friday that there were no credible fraud allegations. On Saturday, the Department of State, which Scott oversees, said its observers in Broward had seen "no evidence of criminal activity." On Sunday, Bondi told FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen in a letter she is "deeply troubled" he is not pursuing any investigation into Broward and Palm Beach election officials. In a separate letter, Bondi told Secretary of State Ken Detzner, a Republican Scott appointee, to report any "indication creating a reasonable suspicion of potential criminal activity" to law enforcement.
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.
All counties must turn in their recount totals by Thursday at 3 p.m., and there will be a hand recount for any races separated by less than 0.25 percent. Final results will be certified on Nov. 20 by Florida's Elections Canvassing Commission, a three-member panel that includes Scott and two Cabinet members.
-
The UK’s ‘wallaby boom’Under the Radar The Australian marsupial has ‘colonised’ the Isle of Man and is now making regular appearances on the UK mainland
-
Fast food is no longer affordable to low-income AmericansThe explainer Cheap meals are getting farther out of reach
-
‘The money to fix this problem already exists’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
-
Trump pivots on Epstein vote amid GOP defectionsSpeed Read The president said House Republicans should vote on a forced release of the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
