Even as recount efforts are fully underway in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania aimed at explaining the mounting irregularities and mathematical improbabilities in the results reported by those states, Florida is steadfastly declining to even entertain the idea of a recount. Its state laws conveniently prevent a candidate from requesting a recount, meaning only the state’s Secretary of State can do so – and he’s thus far refusing despite a growing petition. But he may have to explain why, according to Florida’s own official numbers, more than 160,000 people supposedly showed up to vote but didn’t bother to vote – at all – for President.

The numbers listed on Florida’s official website couldn’t spell it out more clearly. The state lists 9,580,489 people as having voted in the 2016 election in total. But a different page of Florida’s same official website lists just 9,420,039 people as having voted for President. According to these claims, a total of 160,450 people in Florida took the time to register to vote, and went ahead and voted in some downticket race, but declined to participate in the Presidential section of the ballot at all.

To be clear, this discrepancy cannot be explained away by the people who voted for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, or even by the write-in voters. For instance, Florida’s tally in the Presidential election includes all of the Johson and Stein votes along with nine votes for “Valdivia / Barnere” and two votes for “Fox / Kushner” among other write-in votes (designated as WRI). Those were all included in the 9,420,039 presidential vote tally.

Instead, Florida’s official numbers are pointing to 160,450 people who supposedly voted in a downticket race but did nothing at all in the presidential portion of the ballot. So what other pressing electoral matter could have brought them out to the polls if they had no intention of voting for president? There was a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot, but because a narrow number of people would be eligible for it, and the initiative did not include recreational marijuana one way or the other, it’s difficult to make the case that a six figure number of Floridians would have turned out simply to vote for or against it.

There was also a Senate race in Florida in 2016. But that race consisted of unpopular incumbent Marco Rubio largely staying out of the public eye after what had been a disastrous Presidential primary run, and his challenger Patrick Murphy struggling to get sufficient funding to compete with him. So the Rubio-Murphy race not was enough of a draw to explain away the sheer number of people who showed up and only voted downticket. Instead, the most logical explanation is that Florida wildly erred, either through incompetence or malice, in its 2016 Presidential voting totals. It’s why the Florida petition is growing. And it’s not the only suspicious swing state; Michigan had the same exact anomaly.



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