The Florida Department of Elections has found no evidence of criminal activity in Broward County’s handling of the midterm election Tuesday, despite allegations of fraud by Gov. Rick Scott.
“Our staff has seen no evidence of criminal activity at this time,” Sarah Revell, spokesperson for the state department, told the Miami Herald on Saturday.
Two staffers from Scott’s Department of Elections have been stationed in Broward County since at least Nov. 6 to oversee the administration of election processes.
Broward County, a Democratic stronghold, has been the subject of finger-pointing over the past couple days due to ballot-tabulating problems. For instance, in Friday it was revealed that Broward County’s elections supervisor mixed 20 invalid ballots with a pile of 205 valid ballots, prompting criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
Scott, who is the GOP candidate in the U.S. Senate race, appeared to be on the cusp of victory against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on election night. However, as more votes have trickled in, the margin between the two has tightened.
Scott has claimed there was election fraud in Broward and Palm Beach Counties and at a Thursday press conference announced a lawsuit against Broward County Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes for failing to disclose ballot-counting information.
“We have just filed a lawsuit,” Scott said during a press conference Thursday night. “I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election.”
Despite calling for an investigation into voter fraud at the press conference, Scott has not formally asked one to begin.
The secretary of state, who is Scott appointee Ken Detzner, ordered a recount for the Senate race and two others Saturday afternoon.
Vote numbers were displayed on the Florida secretary of state’s website soon after a noon deadline Saturday for county officials to submit unofficial vote totals to the state. Scott’s lead has been cut to .41 percent, within the margin of error for an automatic recount.
Two other races — for Senate and agriculture commissioner — are also getting recounts.
Editor’s note: Updated to remove errant reference to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.
