WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Monday called Florida ballots from the midterm election “massively infected” and said recounts should end in races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Trump said Republican Rick Scott, the governor who campaigned to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and Republican Ron DeSantis, the House member running for governor against Democrat Andrew Gillum, should each be declared winner in their races.

“An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected,” Trump tweeted, without evidence, early Monday.

Trump’s comments followed the beginning of the recount of more than 8 million votes from the Nov. 6 election. It is the first statewide recount in history, and will also cover the state race for agriculture commissioner and several state-level offices.

Brendan Nyhan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, tweeted that Trump was making baseless accusations of fraud and calling for the vote to be halted while his allies were ahead.

Not all ballots have necessarily arrived. The state accepts ballots from military and overseas voters that were postmarked Nov. 6 until Nov. 16.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted Monday every ballot cast legally should be counted. But he criticized election officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Ballot counting began in Broward and Palm Beach counties, two Democratic strongholds, after razor-thin margins caused Florida's secretary of state to order a recount on Saturday.

Scott claimed victory on election night, and has accused election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties of "rampant fraud." He asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate.

Nelson said Monday that Scott should recuse himself from the recount.

“Given his efforts to undermine the votes of Floridians, this is the only way that we can ensure that the people’s votes are protected," Nelson said. “He’s thrown around words like voter fraud without any proof."

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