Democracy is all about free and fair elections. Accurately counting the vote often takes time. It’s not a reality show that ends at the top of the hour. It’s all about integrity. One would think the leader of the world’s largest democracy would understand that.
The law allows absentee ballots (postmarked by election day) to be received by November 16th.
The law calls for an automatic recount when the margin is under .5% between candidates.
The law is the law. But Donald Trump is doing something rather unprecedented with this tweet today. He is trying to mess with democracy.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018
CNN’s Marshall Cohen says:
This isn’t how elections work in the US. It takes weeks to tally all the votes — this was true for Trump’s victory too. “Must go with Election Night” = “must not count all the votes.” It’s as simple as that. This is unprecedented language from a sitting US president.
The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake points out:
Florida accepts overseas/military ballots through Nov. 16, (provided they were postmarked by Nov. 6). The president is effectively calling for the disenfranchisement of military service-members … the day after Veteran’s Day.
Dante Chinni, a politics and data reporter with NBC and WSJ adds:
I still read things like this and have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that they are coming from a U.S. president.
To say chances are slim that the Senate or Governor’s race results will shift to favor the Democrats is an understatement. This isn’t necessarily what this is all about. It is about doing what is fair. Making sure all votes count.
Election administrators are racing against the clock to machine-recount ballots ahead of a Thursday deadline to present their findings, with many of the state’s 67 counties beginning the task Sunday. A more logistically complicated hand recount could follow. The contest will determine the size of the GOP’s Senate majority and settle an expensive fight in the nation’s largest swing state.
The President of the United States should let the process unfold, but some think Donald Trump has a bigger ulterior motive for raising a stink. Former White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform, Norm Eisen says:
Trump’s carping is a warm-up for the possibility of a close presidential election in 2020, and his refusing to accept its legitimacy. We need to start getting ready now to fight with everything we have, & we will. Of course, best insurance is a big margin of victory.