President Trump’s demand that Florida election officials stop recounts and declare his favored candidates the winners could disenfranchise members of the US military serving overseas.
Under Florida’s election laws, the Sunshine State accepts overseas and military ballots through Nov. 16 as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 6.
But the president on Twitter insisted, without offering evidence, that “ballots” were “massively infected,” an unfounded claim similar to his insistence that he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 election if millions had not voted illegally.
“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” the president tweeted from the White House.
Florida election officials were scrambling to review more than 8 million ballots by a Thursday deadline, and thousands of ballots mailed by overseas military service members and civilians could still be in transit.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi roasted the president’s charges of vote fraud, saying that Trump was “projecting.”
“My experience with the president is that any time he charges somebody with something, he’s just projecting what he might have done himself,” Pelosi told CBS News on Sunday.
“No, there is no election fraud. What there is is an honest count of the vote.”
The commander-in-chief frequently boasts of his love of and support for the troops.
Administration spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not immediately reply to a question from The Post about whether the president thought votes from military members serving abroad should be counted.
In the Senate race, GOP Gov. Rick Scott held a narrow lead over incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson, while Rep. Ron DeSantis remained ahead of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum in the governor’s race.
Trump wants to end the recounts, which are mandated by Florida law because the races were so close.
Gillum shot back at Trump on Twitter, saying, “You sound nervous. #CountEveryVote.”
Republicans are eager to cement victories in a key battleground state after maintaining their control of the Senate in last week’s midterms, while Democrats are eyeing another possible state governorship win.
Both parties accused the other of trying to subvert democracy.
Scott has filed a number of lawsuits over the recounts amid ongoing election drama echoing Florida’s dramatic role in the 2000 presidential vote recount.
On Sunday, Scott asked a judge to order police to impound voting machines and ballots when not in use.
Nelson has also filed a federal lawsuit.
Studies have found no evidence of large-scale voter fraud in the US, though through the nation’s history courts have found evidence of policies intended to suppress voting by minorities.
Florida law gives local election officials until the Saturday after an election to submit their first round of unofficial election results.
It is common for elections supervisors to process results well after election night, regardless of whether television networks or candidates have called the winners or losers in an election.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which has said it will review allegations of criminal fraud, stated that it had no active investigations as of late Friday.
Scott has said he won the Senate race even as the ballots are tallied again.
“I want to make sure there’s a free and fair election. But there’s laws. Comply with the laws. It’s frustrating, but we won. We’re going to win the recount because it’s never been overturned before,” Scott said.
In a statement Sunday, Nelson accused Scott of seeking to suppress votes and that if the governor wanted every vote counted, he would abandon his lawsuits.
With wires
