President Donald Trump flanked by Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta during the inaugural meeting of the President’s National Council for the American Worker at the White House, September 17, 2018. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

President Trump said Monday that the ongoing recounts in the Florida gubernatorial and senate elections should be cut short due to missteps on the part of elections officials.

The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018

The recounts, which began Sunday, were triggered in both races after initially substantial margins of victory for the respective Republican candidates shrank dramatically as Broward and Palm Beach counties continued to report absentee mail-in ballots days after the Tuesday election.


Prominent Republicans — including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and governor Rick Scott, the Republican senate candidate — have suggested the late influx of Democratic ballots can be attributed to fraud on the part of elections officials. Republican skeptics of the delayed vote count have cited the conduct of Broward elections supervisor Brenda Snipes, who has been twice previously found guilty of violating elections law, and who most recently refused to disclose the number of absentee ballots her office received on election day.

A judge ruled Friday that Snipes violated Florida public records law by refusing to disclose the number of absentee ballots received and her ordered to do so immediately. Snipes also admitted Friday to contaminating some 200 valid provisional ballots by mixing in roughly 20 rejected ballots, compromising the entire cache.

Republican insiders expect Scott or his likely successor, Representative Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), to suspend Snipes for incompetence once the recount is concluded.

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