LAUDERHILL: Elections staff bringing boxes of ballots into the tabulation room for machine counting — AFP FORT LAUDERDALE, Nov 13 (AP): Florida's election recount is chugging along as more irregularities are uncovered and a judge asked the warring sides to "ramp down the rhetoric," saying it erodes public confidence in the election for Senate and governor.
One county revealed Monday that it had allowed some hurricane-displaced voters to cast their ballots by email - a violation of state law. Another had to restart its recount after getting about a quarter finished because someone forgot to push a button.
And in oft-criticised Broward County, additional sheriff's deputies were sent to guard ballots and voting machines, even though a judge said no Republican who has publicly alleged fraud in the county's process - a list that includes President Donald Trump and Gov. Rick Scott - has filed a criminal complaint or presented evidence.
"An honest vote count is no longer possible" in Florida, Trump declared Monday, without elaborating. He demanded that the election night results - which showed the Republicans leading based upon incomplete ballot counts - be used to determine the winner.
Trump went on to allege that "new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged" and that "ballots (are) massively infected." It was unclear what he was referring to.
State law requires a machine recount in races where the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. In the Senate race, Scott's lead over incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson was 0.14 percentage points.
In the governor's contest, unofficial results showed Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41 percentage points.
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