Americans have been watching example after example of suspIcious and likely criminal behavior taking place in Broward County, including a former election worker who, in a  sworn affidavit revealed that she was fired after reporting that she observed four election workers filling out stacks of blank ballots in a locked, secured room in the Broward Co. Supervisors office in October 2016.  Numerous photos and videos have also revealed irregularities in the handling of votes, as well as suspicious ballot transport activity. After watching the shenanigans taking place in Florida, why would any American trust the outcome of the election results in Broward and Palm Beach counties?

Elections need to be free and fair and without the appearance of cheating to win, otherwise, Americans will no longer have faith in our ability to have democratically elected lawmakers and officials. Elected officials who sit in some of the highest seats in our nation, should never be chosen simply because one Party is more capable of organizing dirty, behind the scenes shenanigans than the other.

Governor Rick Scott is attempting to put an end to Americans worst fears of organized voter fraud that affects the outcome of our elections, by demanding that the election recount in Florida is handled like a crime scene…

Politico is reporting that Gov. Rick Scott wants recount efforts in Palm Beach and Broward counties handled like a crime scene, arguing in court filings on Sunday that past election mishaps in those counties warrant the involvement of law enforcement.

His U.S. Senate campaign’s latest legal efforts have sparked intensified sniping between Republicans, who want voting machines in counties with histories of election problems protected, and Democrats, who say Scott is acting like a “Latin American dictator.”

The push for law enforcement to secure voting machines and invalidate ballots has Florida Democrats casting Scott as dictator trying to seize control of Florida’s election process.

“In suing to seize ballots and impound voting machines, Rick Scott is doing his best to impersonate Latin American dictators who have overthrown democracies in Venezuela and Cuba,” Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Peñalosa said in a statement. “The governor is using his position to consolidate power by cutting at the very core of Democracy.”

Scott asserts that election officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties, both at the epicenter of Florida’s nationally watched midterm recounts, can’t be trusted with voting equipment in large part because of past election woes associated with Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.

The two officials are playing a big role in recounts involving races for state agriculture commissioner, governor, and Senate, in which Scott currently leads Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson by roughly 12,000 votes out of more than 8 million cast. A round of machine recounts that include the Senate and governor’s races is supposed to be done by a Thursday deadline, but Bucher said late Sunday Palm Beach County might not make it, which puts into questions what would happen to remaining uncounted ballots.

Scott wants law enforcement to “impound and preserve” voting machines while they are not being used.

“As long as the Supervisor of Elections has unsupervised, unaccountable, and unfettered access to the ballot boxes, she will be able to destroy evidence of any errors, accidents, or unlawful conduct — making it nearly impossible for an aggrieved party to prosecute their claims or discover later what has occurred in the electoral process,” the complaint states.

The complaint relies in part on the embattled resumes of both supervisors. Most recently, Snipes was found in violation of state and federal law in May for destroying ballots tied to the 2016 reelection of Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Bucher has had fewer instances of negative headlines, but earlier this week her office lost a court fight with Scott’s campaign and the National Republican Senate Committee over the release of public records. Snipes also was found in violation of public record laws after Scott filed a similar lawsuit against her office.

Scott’s campaign also filed a separate lawsuit saying that ballots counted in Broward County after noon on Saturday are illegal. The suit says that’s a violation of a state law that says ballot returns needed to be returned at that time.

 

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