Florida Recounts Dredge Up 2000 Election Nightmare
Debra J. Saunders
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Posted: Nov 18, 2018 12:01 AM
Almost two decades after the infamous Florida recount to determine the 2000 presidential election, voters again have reason to look at Broward County's election system with contempt and suspicion.
In 2000, Broward County went so far as to judge indentations in ballots as legitimate votes. This netted Democratic nominee Al Gore an extra 567 votes -- not enough to beat George W. Bush but enough to sow distrust among concerned citizens.
Nearly two decades later, Broward County is back to its old tricks.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson is running for re-election, but he trailed his opponent, GOP Gov. Rick Scott, on election night. The margin of some 12,600 ballots was slim enough to warrant a 67-county recount by Florida law -- but not a well-run recount in Broward County.
In accordance with the recount rules, election officials were supposed to submit the results of a five-day round-the-clock recount on Thursday at 3 p.m.
Problem: The Broward recount would have added more than 700 votes to Republican Scott's tally. What to do? Election officials somehow did not send the recount numbers to state officials until two minutes after the deadline. The state then announced it would not recognize the new numbers.
"Basically, I just worked my a-- off for nothing," complained Joe D'Allesandro, Broward County's director of elections -- as if it were all about him.
Broward County's supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes, a Democrat with an affinity for controversy, has her own special history. Snipes also admitted to mistakenly counting 22 absentee ballots that were not legal to include. Oops.
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https://townhall.com/columnists/debrajsaunders/2018/11/18/florida-recounts-dredge-up-2000-election-nightmare-n2536115
