Florida judge sees no evidence of counting fraud

November 12, 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- A Florida judge said he's seen no evidence of wrongdoing in the vote-counting in Broward County and urged all sides to "ramp down the rhetoric."

Circuit Chief Judge Jack Tuter said during emergency hearing Monday that there is a need to reassure citizens that the integrity of the Florida recount is being protected.

To that point, he urged lawyers for Rick Scott and others representing the Republican and Democratic parties and their candidates as well as the Broward County elections office to agree on some minor additions in security, including the addition of three more law enforcement officers to keep an eye on things.

And the judge says that if anyone any evidence of voter fraud or irregularities, they should report it to law enforcement.

November 11, 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The recounting of Senate and gubernatorial ballots is underway in Florida's second most-populous county after it fixed problems with its machines.

Broward County began counting about 700,000 ballots Sunday after a more than two-hour delay caused by a tested machine that wasn't registering all ballots. Republican representatives asked that all machines be retested and county officials agreed.

The heavily Democratic county is one of two where Republicans have made allegations of possible ballot fraud. State elections and law enforcement officials say they have seen no evidence suggesting the allegations are true.

The Florida secretary of state ordered the recounts Saturday. The count must be completed by Thursday.

Unofficial results show that Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 0.5 percentage points. In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott's lead over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson is less than 0.25 percentage points.