A.G. Gancarski
After an election with more participation than any in history, a U.S. Senator from Florida claims that Americans have “lost confidence” in key aspects of the democratic process.
In a Tuesday morning tweet, Republican Rick Scott contended that “the American people have lost confidence in our electoral process, resulting in an increasingly fractured America.”
That claim was promotional, a jump-off for the latest in a series of Senatorial op-eds for the Fox News website.
“Right now, we are seeing what happens when that trust disappears and the legality and integrity of our elections remains uncertain,” Scott wrote, before reiterating that “the American people do not have confidence in our electoral process, resulting in an increasingly fractured America.”
Democrats “across the country have created an electoral system that Americans believe is not fair,” Scott contends.
“As in my Senate race in 2018, we see Supervisors of Elections, in largely Democratic strongholds, refuse to comply with state and federal laws that exist to prevent fraud,” Scott added
Scott says “while it may be relatively uncommon, there is indeed real-life voter fraud in America, and it is consequential.”
Soon enough, he calls attention to two states President Donald Trump chased, but looks to have lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
“I saw this coming. When states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin started changing their election laws on the fly, I predicted an electoral crisis that would cause mass confusion and distrust,” Scott said.
The Senator, of course, has a bill to fix this. His VOTER Act “protects the integrity of federal elections with fraud prevention measures and requires all eligible ballots to be counted and reported within 24 hours after polls close on Election Day to promote certainty in the outcome of a federal election.”
All ballots would have to be in before polls close.
While “states’ rights” may be a consideration for some, Scott sees a federal solution as necessary, as the states “have botched this, and elections are just too important.”
14 comments
Serious Question
November 10, 2020 at 10:49 am
Does anyone really believe that Wisconsin had an 89% voter turnout?
Ocean Joe
November 10, 2020 at 11:37 am
Your source for 89% is from Donald Trump, Jr. Seriously, Donald Trump, Jr. Here’s a cut and paste for you.
“Donald Trump Jr.: “Wisconsin voter turnout jumped from 67% in 2016 to 89% in 2020.”
PolitiFact’s ruling: Pants on Fire
The turnout claim — retweeted based on Trump Jr.’s shared more than 13,000 times — is absurd and based on a misunderstanding of basic election math. Twitter has since suppressed the original tweet, noting it “might be misleading about an election.” It is misleading.”
The real turnout numbers
Sources
Donald Trump Jr., tweet, Nov. 4, 2020
MIlwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin election results, updated Nov. 5, 2020
Wisconsin Elections Commission, Wisconsin Voter Turnout Statistics, accessed Nov. 5, 2020
New York Times, 2016 Wisconsin Election Results, Aug. 1, 2017
“Wisconsin had more than 3.6 million registered voters heading into Election Day, and more than 3.2 million Wisconsinites voted in the presidential race.”
“But those aren’t the numbers used to calculate turnout here.”
“For starters, Wisconsin allows same-day voter registration, so that number of registered voters goes up throughout the day. In 2016, for example, 12.7% of voters registered on Election Day, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.”
“Even more important, registered voters is the wrong figure entirely for calculating turnout. Voter turnout in a same-day registration state is based on the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot.”
“So when you divide the number of votes cast in Wisconsin — 3,278,963 as of Nov. 5 — by the voting-age population in Wisconsin (4,536,293 as of 2019, according to the elections commission), you get a turnout rate of 72.3%.”
“That’s the highest rate ever behind the 2004 election, but solidly in the range of past presidential contests here.”
2020 — 72.3%
2016 — 67.3%
2012 — 70.4%
2008 — 69.2%
2004 — 72.9%
2000 — 67%
“It is also worth noting that while Biden received about 250,000 more votes than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did in 2016, Trump exceeded his own 2016 totals by 14.6% percent, or about 200,000 votes.”
“So, a good chunk of the increased turnout was due to his supporters.”
“Using the proper denominator for 2020 shows a turnout around 72%, firmly in the range of past presidential elections.”
As for Rick Scott, it was Republican legislatures in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania that prevented mail-in ballots from being counted, or even prepped for counting until election day leading to the delay. Scott has jumped on the partisan bandwagon, we do need electoral consistency across the country…get these Republican legislatures to follow Florida’s lead, instead of always throwing sand in the gears.
Sam
November 10, 2020 at 11:41 am
Rick is evil but not stupid, he knows damn well that trump has engineered this whole post election thing that we are going through right now. Thank God that we have a very decentralized election system that he can’t hijack directly. After being such a sore winner, did anyone think trump would be anything except the sorest of sore losers?
Paula
November 10, 2020 at 12:37 pm
We have “lost confidence” in Rick Scott.
S B ANTHONY
November 10, 2020 at 12:50 pm
Speak for yourself, Tricky Dick. We have full confidence in the electoral process and Joe Biden’s overwhelming and historical win. Do something useful with your time and go try to convince the Toddler in Chief to just go away.
Tjb
November 10, 2020 at 2:35 pm
Was doesn’t Scott talk about how Republicans has created a process to suppress the voting of Americans that leans towards the Democratic Party.
Math, Have Some
November 10, 2020 at 3:30 pm
https://wkow.com/2020/11/05/fact-check-number-of-registered-voters-in-wi/
In total, just over 89 percent of Wisconsin’s 3.68 million registered voters cast a ballot in the November 2020 election.
According to election results, just under 3.3 million voters cast their ballots.
The question still stands.
Kevin Hoeft
November 10, 2020 at 7:11 pm
Go Senator Scott! We appreciate your great work. Do not let the Democrats steal this election from the American people!
Palmer Tom
November 10, 2020 at 8:24 pm
This is manufactured outrage. The only people complaining about the electoral process are the ones whose candidate lost. That is what’s sad.
Daniel St John
November 10, 2020 at 11:36 pm
The reason people feel the election process sucks, is because the republicans keep gerrymandering, lying, cheating, using voter suppression and ask for foreign help. The clown in the white house used russia and wikileaks to win his first election and lost this ne, because he didn’t have Comey or wikileaks and russia was stopped for most of the election. Left to their own devises, the republicans would do what ever it takes to stay in power, including selling out America.If you want free and fair elections, stop the gerrymandering, open the vote to everyone and count all votes. But, as you can see with your own eyes, when it goes sideways on them, they can’t accept reality and the reality is, Joe Biden is our 46th president..
Sonja Fitch
November 11, 2020 at 6:28 am
It is obvious that Nazi Rick sees himself as the next goptrump cult leader! Nazi Rick has plenty of experience in killing off people and denying health care for MONEY ! Nazi Rick is a disgusting piece of shit! We are going to have to listen to Nazi rick bs for awhile !
Frankie M.
November 11, 2020 at 8:06 am
Give tricky ricky credit he predicted it then he went out and created it.
MRamos
November 11, 2020 at 3:28 pm
Americans are losing faith in our electoral process because of people like Rick Scott and Donald Dump! The irony is that a thief who defrauded Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital was “elected” first governor of Florida, then senator. And even greater, the added insult to injury: the selection of Donald Dump, the con man of con men; the liar of liars; arrogance, narcissism, bigotry, misogyny, idiocy and imbecility personified, to the most respected office in the world without any preparation whatsoever, and the embarrassment and damage he has caused the country since his a unfortunate ascent to the presidency.
Jay McGovern
November 11, 2020 at 3:56 pm
Senator Scott claims in 2018 Supervisors of Election in Florida Democratic Counties did not follow the law. That is his allegation. A serious charge.
Senator Scott,
1. Who are the Supervisors who didn’t follow the law?
2. What did you do about it in 2018?
Did you file a complaint with the Florida Division of Elections? I’m sure you would have and provided evidence to warrant the State and its Republican Governor to investigate. Based on the strength of Rick Scott’s evidence, it would have no doubt resulted in criminal charges. Maybe some liberal judge would side with the criminals but surely in a State run by Republicans for over 20 years he would at least try to bring these rogue Supervisors of Elections to justice. Unless this is another Rick Scott lie.
Maybe Rick Scott believes it. Believing it doesn’t make it true. Leaders don’t repeat things that are not true. If Americans have lost confidence in the electoral process it is because Senators and the President are repeating things that are not true. They are dividing our country; our electoral process is not creating a divided country.
Rick Scott is a Senator not a leader, let’s not confuse those two things. Some say, “but he’s a good businessman.” I’m not sure why. It’s not true and folks shouldn’t repeat things that are not true. Right? Our Mothers taught us that.
Personally, I never could figure out if Rick Scott was a crook who led an organized effort to steal from taxpayers at HCA through Medicare fraud. Or whether he was a stooge made to look like the leader while all the fraud was taking place without his knowledge. The fraud is not disputed, HCA paid an enormous fine. The only dispute surrounds the question: “Is Rick Scott a crook or stupid?” Either way he’s not a good businessman. I think Senator Scott’s opinion piece gives us the answer, sadly he is not very bright. So now we know he’s neither a leader nor a good businessman only a Senator who doesn’t act when he sees things that he believes are illegal.
Just one more question Senator Scott. “why would someone risk going to prison to vote illegally for someone who hasn’t done anything in 47 years.” (channeling my inner Columbo)
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