Jesse Scheckner
Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is again complaining he was the victim of voter fraud without offering a shred of proof.
In a 30-minute rant touching on a range of issues at the National Conservatism Convention (NatCon), Scott repeated his allegation that election officials in Florida “illegally counted 95,000 ballots after election night” in 2018 to keep former Democratic U.S. Bill Nelson in office.
“Democrats know they can’t win with their crazy, wacky ideas, so they want to set up a way that they can steal elections, and we’ve had to fight every day to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he told a packed ballroom at the JW Marriott Turnberry in Aventura.
“When I won in 2018, I won by 57,000 votes. They illegally counted 95,000 ballots after election night. I had 1,000 lawyers, 7,000 volunteers. It’s the only way we won, and (I’m) the first person of only two people that’s ever beaten (Democratic elections lawyer) Marc Elias in the recount.”
Scott in fact won by 10,033 votes, a 0.1% margin of victory. That was after mail-in and provision ballots were fully tallied. It took several days for the election to be resolved due to difficulties some of Florida’s more populous, Democratic areas had counting mail-in ballots.
While the recount was underway, as required by Florida law in cases of extremely close races, Scott declared on television that “there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward counties.”
At Scott’s request, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it would investigate the Supervisors of Election of both counties. The department dropped the matter after speaking with the Department of State which said it had “no criminal allegations of fraud.” The heads of both agencies were Scott appointees.
Subsequent probes into voter fraud in South Florida during the 2018 election have yielded no evidence to back Scott’s claim. But that hasn’t stopped Scott from bringing it up every year since. In November 2020, he told Newsmax TV “they found 95,000 ballots after election night,” blaming the unproven misdeed on “activist judges that allow these things to happen.”
He told CNN in early 2021, “You have to remember what I went through in my 2018 election, where they completely violated the law (and) found 95,000 votes after election night.”
Scott opened his NatCon speech Sunday defending Donald Trump, who lodged similarly unfounded accusations after mail-in and provision ballots were being counted during the 2020 election.
Trump is now under investigation for allegedly misappropriating classified documents and hoarding them at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. FBI agents seized boxes of the documents last month.
According to Scott, President Joe Biden is “abusing his power” and “weaponizing the federal government to go after a political opponent” by allowing the U.S. Department of Justice to look into the matter.
“If they can do this to a former President, they can do this to anyone,” he said, contradicting an assertion he made just last month that “no one is above the law.”
Scott then turned his ire toward an earmark in the Inflation Reduction Act that over the next decade will infuse the Internal Revenue Service with $80 billion to help improve tax compliance.
The IRS has been bleeding workers for years — more than 23,000 since 2010 — and expects to lose 50,000 more to retirement in the next five years. The agency’s ability to enforce tax compliance has declined drastically. As has been widely reported, the money will help shore up its deficiencies and improve its capacity for the future.
And yes, a small fraction its new agents will carry firearms. Such has long been the case, no different than other federal law enforcement agencies.
But, according to Scott, that funding set-aside is nothing more than a partisan ploy meant to “target hard-working American families.”
“And how many of you believe they’re going to go after Democrats?” he said. “No, they’re going to go after you. They’re going to go after conservatives.”
21 comments
Tom
September 14, 2022 at 7:12 am
LMAO Jesse.
I like how you “couch” in that the strongest Dem populous areas, so called “mail In” ballots took days to count. Always Dem areas outstanding. What a joke.
Pastor Sandell
September 14, 2022 at 8:06 am
Scott is claiming that he got cheated..when he verifiably didn’t…all while claiming that the Democrats are cheating and trying to steal elections. Do you not condemn such behavior or are you on board with these scams? How many Republicans must be charged with crimes before you understand what these criminal snakes are doing? Keep in mind Rick Scott’s fraud case…
Joe Corsin
September 14, 2022 at 7:38 am
Scott said that Democrats want to steal elections..all while he lies about elections? It is these clowns who are trying to steal elections and then blame the other side for trying to do it. The GOP is a dangerous far right party and national security threat. Needs to be banned for the sake of the nation.
Bill
September 14, 2022 at 7:46 am
Yo rick – you want some cheese with that whine? What a snowflake with the emphasis on flake.
Paul Passarelli
September 14, 2022 at 9:14 am
The article notes: “That was after mail-in and provision ballots were fully tallied. It took several days for the election to be resolved due to difficulties some of Florida’s more populous, Democratic areas had counting mail-in ballots.”
Why is it always the Democrat precincts that have difficulties counting? One could interpret that as a basic ineptitude of the Democrats in general, but the truth is much scarier. They have difficulties, because the are executing a cheat. An honest cound happens in real-time. It takes extra work and the need to circumvent safeguards to introduce fraudulent ballots.
Why ios it that they invariably “discover” ballots in storage? Are the poll workers that literally spend months in planning & weeks in intensive preparation for election day are really that incompetent? Well, if they work in Democrat precincts, it’s just another lie we’re expected to swallow.
I’ve had enough, I believe it’s time to decertify the Democratic Party, and indict those that have engaged in election fraud. Jail time needs to be on the horizon. Otherwise the spectre of a political uprising could deteriorate into har harsher consequences for those that have behaved badly at the expense of the American people.
Bill
September 14, 2022 at 9:41 am
Have you ever considered the fact that lower income people who have to work three jobs to keep themselves and their families afloat are more likely to vote by mail because they literally can’t afford to stand around all day to vote? Given that R’s are the party of old white rich folks, they are more likely to vote D. Go figure.
How about we hold elections on weekends say between 08:00 Saturday through 20:00 Sunday instead so voting becomes less of a pain in the a$$? These problems are all solvable except that R’s just don’t want people voting ’cause when they do, R’s lose.
Paul Passarelli
September 14, 2022 at 10:25 am
Strawman arguments are one of the old standbys of Democrats & liars.
In this context? No, Bill, I didn’t consider that. Because it’s not relevant. It’s not like Election day comes as a surprise to anyone.
Joe Corsin
September 14, 2022 at 10:36 am
@Pizzarelli: Trump 40,000 lies over four years culminating in the big lie…but Democrats are the problem when it comes to lying? Perhaps someone too young to understand what the hell is going on around them would believe such nonsense. That includes rural idiots I suppose… rural neanderthals and Q-Anon nincompoops 😂
Tom
September 14, 2022 at 10:42 am
Bull crap Bill.
Crock of manure.
Go and vote, shut the hell up.
What a bunch of Crap.
I can’t vote, I have 3 jobs. Wah
What is this.
Yes Paul is correct, the corruption in Dem counties and this ridiculous mail in voting is destroying elections.
Shut the hell up all you soros Manchurians.
Mr. Haney
September 15, 2022 at 12:45 pm
Tom, it is you who is full of crap. Where do you live in Florida?
tjb
September 14, 2022 at 9:56 am
“My Name is Paul Passarelli. Last November I ran for the office of US Senator on the Libertarian ticket. I am a lifelong resident of Connecticut, and I am an engineer by training and
avocation.”
Paul got 1% of the votes in the Connecticut Senate Race… If Floridians read your paper on your policies’ positions, they will gladly buy you, the carpetbagger, a ticket to send you back home to CT.
Paul Passarelli
September 14, 2022 at 10:47 am
If you are going to pretend to quote me, at least get the facts correct.
Why the tjb alias this time? Do you actually believe is is any less debauched than the others
Elliott Offen
September 14, 2022 at 10:17 am
@Paul Pizzarelli: The GOP is a dangerous far right party and national security threat. Because of their rotten candidates and no real platform other than shoveling money to the rich…they are suffering consequences. Instead of turning themselves around though they will continue with their criminal authoritarian schemes to claim stolen elections in order to overturn free and fair elections…and incite terrorism and violence. What you just said is just hogwash. Many of you will end up in jail eventually…
Mr. Haney
September 15, 2022 at 12:43 pm
You sir are a moron.
Paul Passarelli
September 15, 2022 at 3:30 pm
Facts not in evidence. However, you sir are a troll & a shill.
And because you did at least try to be civil by using a simple (gender affirming) honorific I will offer an opportunity to flee unbloodied. Do you really want to engage in a battle of wits on behalf of an army that is so obviously unarmed?
Lex Taylor
September 14, 2022 at 9:14 am
Democrats do the same thing. Who is the governor of Georgia? Everyone is losing confidence in elections and election rules. Much of that is probably the chasm between the parties and their respective Overton Windows of what is polite behavior. Both parties to a large degree see the middle of the other party outside their own Overton Window, so any loss is catastrophic. But if you have no problem with Stacey Abrahams doing the same thing you are not realizing that it is a universal problem and not a good sign for the Country as a whole.
Joe Corsin
September 14, 2022 at 10:20 am
“I just need you to find 11,080 votes..WHICH IS ONE MORE THAN WE HAVE. Basically I’m admitting that I know I don’t have the votes but I want them anyway. If I don’t get them, you could be in legal jeopardy.”
Stacy Abrams said this???
Mr. Haney
September 15, 2022 at 12:46 pm
Georgia has the least secure voting systems in the country.
PeterH
September 14, 2022 at 9:40 am
Hey Rick….. explain to us how optically scanned Florida ballots that are linked to a registered voter are forged and magically appear ready to be fed into a scanner?
If Americans want women to control their own bodies, qualified teachers to replace DeSantis’s culture wars in classrooms, intelligent teacher-student conversations concerning the social issues facing Americans in the 21st century, non-bullying discussion about classroom students who are different, common sense gun regulations, and a new honest approach on how best to address climate change……
AMERICANS MUST VOTE ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE.
REPUBLICANS ARE AMERICA’S PROBLEM.
PeterH
September 14, 2022 at 11:49 am
THE BIG LIE
These Florida Republicans either voted to overturn the 2020 election or believe the 2020 election was stolen, and believe the BIG LIE!
Ron DeSantis
Rick Scott
Kat Cammack
Mario Diaz-Balart
Byron Donalds
Neal Dunn
Scott Franklin
Matt Gaetz
Carlos Gimenez
Brian Mast
Bill Posey
John Rutherford
Greg Steube
Daniel Webster
REPUBLICANS ARE AMERICA’S PROBLEM!
VOTE ALL REPUBLICANS OUT OF OFFICE!
I am what I am
September 15, 2022 at 6:41 pm
Yep still waiting on climate changes to roll over the 300 million destruction movers to get the roof’s ripped off and render their overpriced homes to be tendered useless
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