President Trump’s petulant and evidence-free attacks on the legally mandated recount in the neck and neck Florida senatorial and gubernatorial elections prove quite clearly that the wanna-be autocrat has no respect for democratic (with a small “d”) values.
His frequent tweets on the subject during the last few days demonstrate a complete ignorance of election regulations — not surprising from a president who considers himself to be above the law — and represent a desperate mewling that is the sound of Trump futilely lashing out in fear and anger at the prospect of Republican losses in the midterm elections growing even larger.
Trump’s deranged tweets were particularly vicious towards election officials in Florida’s Broward and Miami-Dade counties where any votes that could turn the final ballot count towards the Democratic candidates’ favor would most likely originate.
The president’s baseless allegations of voter fraud and missing and forged ballots were aimed specifically at election officials in those counties and serve his purpose of casting doubt on the entire system of voting in this country in service of a GOP win, a goal he conveniently shares with his Russian patrons in the Kremlin.
Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018
As soon as Democrats sent their best Election stealing lawyer, Marc Elias, to Broward County they miraculously started finding Democrat votes. Don’t worry, Florida – I am sending much better lawyers to expose the FRAUD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018
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Now, Broward County Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes has responded to the President’s attacks and those of Florida’s Republican candidates who have seen their exceedingly narrow margins of victory steadily erode as absentee and provisional ballots are counted. With calls for her resignation ringing in the air, Snipes dismissed the spurious accusations being made against her and confidently predicted that she and her team would complete the recount by the official deadline.
“Based on the way that the machines are moving and the amount of paper that they are processing, I think that we are on a good schedule and we will finish before the deadline,” Snipes told local ABC News affiliate WPBF 25.
Asked her reaction to the president’s insinuation that the Florida election was marred by massive voting fraud, Snipes was amazed that Trump could blindly hurl accusations at someone whom he’s never even met.
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“Well, I don’t have a treasure trove for going out digging on the beach or somewhere to find any votes. But I’ve never had the opportunity to meet the president other than seeing him through television and he hasn’t met me,” Snipes said to the local news outlet.
Snipes gave every indication that the recount — which was mandated under state law for any election where there is less than a half a percentage point difference in the final tallies, as both the governor’s and the senator’s races were this time — will be completed accurately, professionally, and as expeditiously as possible.
After all of the unnecessary bullying that she has had to endure, it’s hardly surprising that Dr. Snipes hinted that this may be the last Broward County election that she supervises.
“I think I have served the purpose that I have come here for which was to provide a credible election product for our voters,” said Snipes.
Dr. Snipes did say that she had yet to make a final decision but concluded with another optimistic statement about her team’s ability to get their job done.
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“We will complete the recount. There has never been a deadline that we have missed,” she declared.
Her optimism may be justified. However, if the new recount results in final margins of victory with lower than a .25% difference, state law will mandate a second manual recount of all of the ballots already scanned twice by machines at this point before the results can be certified.
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Original reporting by WPBF-TV 25.
