Sen. Bill Nelson trails Republican Gov. Rick Scott by just 12,603 votes. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Federal judge tosses Nelson rules challenge

TALLAHASSEE — Federal Judge Mark Walker has rejected a case brought by Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson’s campaign that challenged the rules county canvassing boards use to decipher and count certain votes.

The case filed Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee challenged two state Division of Elections rules known as the “magic words” requirement and the “consistency” requirement. Lawyers for Nelson’s campaign argued they violated free speech and equal protections provisions in the U.S. Constitution.


In a ruling handed down early Friday, Walker wrote the rules are prudent.

"The issue is whether the use of these reasonable and natural rules is constitutional,” Walker wrote. “It is.”

The case was one of several brought by Nelson’s campaign in anticipation of the manual recount that Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered Thursday. Nelson trails Republican Gov. Rick Scott by just 12,603 votes.

The cases filed by Nelson’s campaign have not helped slim Scott’s razor thin lead. Walker handed Nelson a small win Thursday morning by giving voters until Saturday to fix ballots that had been rejected due to mismatched signatures. But a document submitted Thursday night by the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows that 65 counties had rejected a total of 4,839 vote-by-mail ballots due to faulty signatures. Another 97 provisional ballots were rejected for the same reason.

The manual recount in the U.S. Senate and state agriculture commissioner races call for canvassing boards in the state’s 67 counties to review disputed ballots known as "undervotes" or "overvotes." A ballot where someone did not input enough selections is deemed an undervote and a ballot with too many selections is an overvote.

Nelson’s campaign had also filed a lawsuit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court Thursday that demanded a hand recount of the 588,562 ballots cast in Palm Beach County. The lawyers claimed County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher’s office would not be able to complete the manual recount in time. But Bucher said Thursday night the manual recount for the Senate race should be completed sometime Friday. The deadline to submit final results to Detzner's office is Sunday at noon.

Along with Nelson’s rule challenge, Walker handed down another order early Friday that rejected a case brought against Scott by the League of Women Voters, which argued the governor should be blocked from using his official powers to oversee the election. Lawyers for the league argued during a three-hour Thursday hearing that Scott endangered the integrity of the election when he made allegations of voter fraud last week. Walker disagreed.