Democrat Bill Nelson sues for access to Florida ballots submitted illegally in GOP-rich county

Ana Ceballos | Naples

Show Caption Hide Caption Florida recounts explained in less than 60 seconds Senator Bill Nelson has called for a recount. Do the vote margins in his race against Rick Scott call for one?

TALLAHASSEE – Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson asked a state court Wednesday to force the elections supervisor in heavily Republican Bay County to turn over ballots that include about 150 accepted by email and fax, which violates state law.

Nelson's campaign sued Bay County Supervisor of Elections Mark Andersen on Wednesday in Bay County Circuit Court, demanding that Andersen turn over copies of all absentee ballots received by his office by email or fax, whether they were valid or not, and the reasons why they were accepted or rejected.

The court action in Bay County comes as Republicans are arguing that Democratic supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties have violated state election laws, and are demanding investigations to determine if fraud has been committed.

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Numerous federal and state lawsuits are pending as a statewide recount continues for three top races, including Nelson's. The Democrat trails Republican Gov. Rick Scott by less than 13,000 votes.

"Indeed, the competition in this race was fierce and the margin for victory in each is small," Nelson's Bay County lawsuit states. "Today, approximately 12,500 votes separate Senate candidates Nelson and Scott. In all elections and especially in contests as close as this one every lawful vote counts."

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The estimated 150 domestic ballots returned via email or fax that Andersen counted could potentially be challenged. Andersen admitted he allowed voters to email their ballots, despite it being explicitly prohibited under state law and by an executive order Scott issued that relaxed voting rules in eight Panhandle counties struck in October by Hurricane Michael.

“The immediate production of the requested records is necessary to avoid the irreparable harm that would result if [Nelson] is unable to ensure that all lawful votes are counted in this ongoing recount,” Nelson's lawyers claim in the suit.

Scott's executive order was meant to help local election officials in the Panhandle, a GOP stronghold with reliable voters, carry out the election smoothly after being impacted by Hurricane Michael. The executive order helped eight counties devastated by the storm.

Bay County was the only county that allowed voters displaced by the storm to return their ballots by email or fax. The USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida called all election supervisors covered by Scott’s executive order, and seven of the eight said they did not accept votes by email or fax.

Anderson declined to comment.

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Six of the eight election supervisors contacted said they did not allow voting by email because it was not allowed by law.

Gina McDonell, the head of elections in Liberty County, said she would have allowed ballots by email or fax, even though it is not allowed, if displaced voters had requested that option. However, no voters made that request, McDonell said.

Andersen has publicly defended his decision to accept ballots by email and fax.

"If you want to turn around and take these votes away from voters because it's not the normal proscribed issue, I would just say you ought to be ashamed of yourselves because what we did is take care of voters," Andersen told WJHG-TV in Panama City.

"What we have is a signature for voters and at some point, if they want to come back and reverse that scenario, I can tell you that we have that in a condition that if a court says so, we can correct that. However, that would be a very, very sad thing to do based on what you think your race or your opponent or candidacy or whatever else, because guess what? Elections are for voters. Not for candidates and not for political parties," he told the TV station.

Carol Rudd, the elections supervisor in Washington County, saw it differently. She said there was no reason to break the rules.

“If you can email us to ask us to vote by email, then I don’t see why you can’t email us your address for us to send you a ballot,” Rudd said.

Scott, who has been loudly accusing election supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach of "rampant fraud" without providing evidence, has been mum on Bay election officials' actions.

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Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday if the Bay votes did not follow state law, they shouldn't be counted.

"Whether it is Broward County or hurricane-ravaged Bay County, Senator Rubio has been clear that every vote legally cast and received within the time frame required by law should be counted," Rubio spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said. "While Bay County has a reputation for conducting successful elections and was aiming to accommodate voters under difficult circumstances following Hurricane Michael, ballots submitted by email or faxed domestically are not legal and Senator Rubio does not believe they should be counted.”

Sarah Revell, a spokeswoman with the Florida Department of State, which oversees elections, said the agency is aware of the reports that Bay ballots were emailed and faxed. When asked if the agency is investigating, she said in her written response that local elected officials are responsible for following the law.

The agency has not received any formal complaints about voter fraud in Bay County, Revell said.

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