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Republicans are quickly whipping up their Florida base into a virulent froth, with GOP protesters descending on Broward County to accuse Democrats of committing “voter fraud.” In particular, they are targeting Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes.
”We want (Snipes) in handcuffs. We want her whole staff locked up,” protester Janet Klomburg told Miami Herald reporter Alex Harris on Friday. “This race was stolen from us.”
Kudos on the hysteria, but the votes haven’t even been fully counted in Broward yet. Of course, that hasn’t stopped Republican lawmakers from stoking unfounded fears about fraud. From Donald Trump to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to Senate candidate Rick Scott to GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republicans are inciting the endemic fears of their continually aggrieved base.
“We cannot continue to allow this to be the banana republic of Broward,” Gaetz said Friday, calling for the state to take control of Broward elections. And by “the state,” he means Scott, who is presently both Florida’s sitting Governor and the man on a quest to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
Gaetz is just parroting the messages from on high. En route to Paris on Friday, Trump was hatching conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory during his executive time on Air Force One.
“As soon as Democrats sent their best Election stealing lawyer, Marc Elias, to Broward County they miraculously started finding Democrat votes,” Trump tweeted about the Democratic attorney representing Nelson’s campaign. “Don’t worry, Florida - I am sending much better lawyers to expose the FRAUD!”
Trump also sent a shout out to Rubio—apparently now the Devin Nunes of the Senate—after Rubio promoted his own conspiracies on Twitter Thursday. In a “Long but IMPORTANT” thread, Rubio charged that Broward elections officials had “opened the door for lawyers to come here & try to steal a seat in the U.S. Senate.” He also provided zero evidence of this, because that’s the way Republicans roll now: spout lies, point fingers, and let the fallout ensue. Which is exactly what’s happening Florida right now.
Here’s a FACT: After Scott publicly called for an investigation into voter fraud, Florida law enforcement officials say no voter fraud has been found nor was any official complaint made.
FACT: Scott and Nelson are now separated by a margin of just .18 percent, or about 15,000 votes. If that margin holds, the race will go to a manual recount under Florida law.
FACT: The votes are still being counted and election officials currently have until Saturday to do that.
Check out some of the GOP’s developing protests to actually counting the votes below.