Senator Nelson is going to win the recount and all hell is going to break loose.

[kentuck]

I think this is a good possibility.

There are still a lot of votes yet to be counted and many of those votes are from Democratic areas. There should be no surprises if Senator Nelson comes out ahead.

Republicans, including Donald Trump and Rick Scott, have been inciting their supporters to believe the only way that Bill Nelson can win is by "fraud". That is not the case.

The right-wingers are already primed to deny the results if Rick Scott is not declared the winner.

However, it is not realistic to open a million pieces of mail (mail-in ballots) and expect the results immediately. It takes time. And the time that it takes is not as important as the fact that each of those votes should be counted. It is not "fraud" - it is democracy.

[manor321]

2. We don't know that

If there are undervotes that were caused by machine error instead of the voter not filling out the Senate race, then maybe. If people didn't vote for Senate, I'm not confident we have the votes. I will hope for the best.

[kentuck]

3. I heard a report that there were still 700,000 votes to be counted?

If that is true, how can anyone claim that Rick Scott has already won?

[FloridaBlues]

11. Haven't read that, what is your source for that high number ?

Most of the votes have been counted they are putting in ballots that have been counted except for the later ones still coming in from oversees.

[kentuck]

12. I heard it on MSNBC or CNN...

...that it was ballots that were cast on election day. I cannot guarantee the accuracy.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

48. K&R What do you think about this link - a cyber-weapon in information wars?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211420414

[Takket]

47. 700000 to RECOUNT

Broward has to recount 700000 ballots. but they are already in the vote totals.

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/11/12/broward-still-hasnt-started-recount-deadline-is-thursday-for-700000-ballots/

Two days after state officials ordered a statewide recount in three key races that ended within razor-thin margins, Broward County elections officials said Monday they have not yet started their recount of more than 700,000 ballots it must tally before Thursday's deadline.

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said she was not concerned that her office would not meet its deadline, even if the start of the recount is delayed until Tuesday morning.

"No, there is not" any concern, said Snipes, whose headquarters in Lauderhill were once again surrounded Monday by a small crowd of protesters critical of the elections chief and her competence to serve.

Broward will conduct three statewide recounts and additional recounts on four municipal races, all of which are on the first page of Broward's ballots. The machines have to first separate that page from the rest of each ballot before they can then be refed and recounted. (Ballots in Broward county can range from four to seven pages, depending on the city.)

[kentuck]

49. Thanks for the clarification.

It is not a first-time count.

[FloridaBlues]

6. My hope is they get the 0.25% we need for hand recount

That will tell us a lot if machine error in these undervotes in Broward county.
We just got another email asking for more volunteers to watch the vote count.
Plan on going this Thursday.

[Flaleftist]

14. It seems very odd for so many people to show up for a midterm

and cast a vote for governor and not for the Senator, was especially considering the kind of candidates on the ballot. Also, IIRC, the number of undervotes in Broward was significantly higher than anywhere else.

[karynnj]

17. I lean to thinking they voted for Senate and it was not read

Why? The top two races, both contentious, were governor and Senator. I remember in 2000, my husband and many people I knew in NJ (from the synagogue that I was a member at) were hearing from older relatives in Florida that their ballots were all messed up. Some were crying. This year --- there was no claim that Nelson was not even on the ballot! The media was watching FL because the races were close and I never heard a hint that anyone voted and then .. suddenly realized after turning it in .. that they did not vote for Senate.

[ProudLib72]

4. You think there will be violence?

Maybe. And I was thinking about just this sort of thing earlier today. When the Rump won a rigged election, there was no violence from Dems. But when the assholes think there might be fraud (are convinced by Tweety McTweetface), then there is violence. That says a lot about how we have faith in democracy and they do not. The only faith they have is in their glorious leader. Their faith is so misplaced!

[kentuck]

8. We should all hope there is no violence...

...but it doesn't help that they are incited by Trump and Scott to believe there is fraud when there is none. Nobody has reported any fraud up to this point.

[eleny]

10. This morning I heard that all sorts of thugs have been bussed in

It was on the Thom Hartmann show. Someone on the ground in Florida said that even Proud Boys are there.

But the good news is that none of them are allowed near the offices where the ballot tabulation is going on. So somebody learned a lesson from the events of the 2000 election. And those days of the Brooks Brothers boys seem mild by comparison to the right wing groups of today.

[ProudLib72]

27. Oh good grief! The proud boys?

These people have nothing better to do with their time than be jerks.

[eleny]

32. I also heard that Cory Gardner is making as ass out of himself

I don't know the details but it's about the elections that still need to be determined.

I can hardly wait to start working for his Dem challenger. Hope we have an outstanding candidate.

[Flaleftist]

18. Trump has already incited the bomber and synagogue shooter.

Trump escalating his rhetoric if the final vote count favors Dems and inciting violence will not surprise me one bit. I would be surprised if it doesn't happen.

[julia b.]

31. unfortunately, you may be right

hi all i'm a newbie but felt i had to comment

i live in montana, and we are a purple state. because of our deep love for the environment, there is a good chance of us squeaking by to be blue in 2020

howver! this yahoo in charge of our country brings out the worst in some-i was threatened online with guns when i talked about forming a discussion group here

and florida..so heavily divided. and trump lives for chaos

if i lived there i would be sticking close to home for awhile

[reACTIONary]

46. Welcome to DU! (nt)

[certainot]

38. their grand poobah laimbaugh is ramping up the outrage

calling sinema a "commie babe" and "unapologetic marxist" is just the start.

starting last week began he's been attacking election officials and suggesting dems were filling in ballots, 'illegal aliens' voting, etc

dems need offense

here's some of his crap from last week, continuing this week:

I really hope I'm wrong, but once the commie babe pulls ahead out there and they tell us there are 500000 ballots yet to be counted in Phoenix in Democrat areas in Phoenix it doesn't look good. But you never know. It's not over yet. Nothing official. And we got people on our side say don't get all worried about it, (that) this is standard operating procedure for Arizona, (that) over 60 percent of the votes are by mail, it takes a long time to count them.

Well that's be fine if counting the votes is what was happening in Arizona but it's not, they're not counting votes in Florida either, they're looking for them. And in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they're if they're trying to find some blank ballots to still mark down there call on provisional ballots. ..... down here.

[ProudLib72]

43. That makes zero sense

Calling her a commie babe must have been a compliment because...



Or else they just don't possess an understanding of irony.

[LiberalLovinLug]

55. I love how these Trump cultists think they are being oh so clever

In adopting the "deplorable" tag. Is this their misguided attempt to mimic blacks taking back the n word? That doesn't quite work as those from our side that refer to them that way, from Hillary on down, can repeat it over and over to describe them. Too bad Hillary didn't just call them idiots. I can see it "I'm an idiot for Trump!". And as Trump sinks further and further into disrepute, the latest being his no-show for memorial ceremonies, they will earn that tag even more for supporting such a vile individual.

[LoveMyCali]

56. I think it's more like

how we as liberal women are proud to label ourselves as nasty women.

[LiberalLovinLug]

57. Ah, I didn't think of that

Still, I'd rather self-identify as nasty than deplorable.

[Phoenix61]

5. I really, really hope you are right

About Nelson winning. Red Tide Rick was a crook when he entered office. He didn't become a law abiding citizen just because he was elected gov. I think the reason he is panicking is he was counting on having the political power of a US Senator to keep past misdeeds from coming to light. There's no telling what the FBI has uncovered in Tallahasse.

[OnDoutside]

7. As long as the result is true and fair, Dems can't be responsible for what RWNJs do.

[bluestarone]

9. THEY (REPUGS) want violence if

Nelson wins!!! GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!

[malaise]

13. Not sure because everyone is calling them out on their bogus fraud shit

The vile MAGAcretin has cried wolf once too often.People are unto him.

[colsohlibgal]

15. History Repeating

What I saw with those republicans in Florida chanting, pounding, etc was real Deja Vu, as in the 2000 behavior of those republican thugs pounding on the doors trying to stop the recount.

They do not want all the votes recorded and correctly counted, because if they were they will likely lose.

Same way in Georgia where Stacy Abrams’ opponent controls the vote.

[Awsi Dooger]

16. We'll know if Nelson has a chance based on machine recount

The hand recount won't change much of anything, not unless the margin is already down to let's say 500 or less, the Gore/Bush margin.

If those undervotes are scanner error in Broward County, the machine recount will catch all of them and Nelson's deficit will be all but gone.

But I suspect it was voter error and the voters mistakenly skipped that race, especially in FL-24 where the House race was not on the ballot, causing the small-footprint senate race with only two candidates to blend in immediately below the lengthy ballot instuructions.

From now on we need to have ballot experts assigned to every county and especially every major urban county to make sure this doesn't happen again. What good are hundreds of lawyers after the fact in comparison to one guy two months ago who recommends that maybe such a cramped ballot design isn't a good idea?

There are not 700,000 votes in Florida that have yet to be counted once. That article was flat wrong and led to false impression of the status of this race.

If the machine recount doesn't rescue those votes in Broward, then we'll hold onto false optimism that doesn't align with the math, somewhat like the false optimism regarding senate control in 2018.

[BlueintheSTL]

19. I thought the only way we will know is by hand recount?

I am not so sure about that. I think it is the opposite. If the scanner did not pick them up the first time, why do you think it will pick them up the second time? I have heard from numerous people that the hand recount will reveal whether it was scanner error or voter error once they hand count the over and under votes. That will happen after the machine recount.

Link to tweet

[watoos]

24. Ari Melber had the Democratic attorney

overseeing the counting on. He said they already found one machine that was bad, he also said the recount will tell if it was because of a poor ballot and the vote wasn't cast or if the machine missed the vote.

So yeah, we will know if it was human error or machine error.

[BlueintheSTL]

28. Yeah but which recount will we be able to tell?

Machine? or hand recount? -- where they will then count over and under votes?

[FloridaBlues]

36. The hand recount will tell the difference but we aren't there yet for hand recount

We will know Thursday afternoon

[SpankMe]

37. Human error.

Ari Melber had an interesting segment on bad ballot design. The ballot has three vertical columns. The first column had a long list of instructions, and then the box for voting for US Senator just under that. Then, the second and third columns were all voting boxes. It could be that voters at polling places feeling somewhat rushed could have been visually tricked into thinking that the whole first column was instructions and then proceeded directly to the second column and started marking their votes there (skipping the US Senator box at the bottom of the first column).

They're saying that there's a significant under-vote for US Senator, but no meaningful under-vote for any other selections on the ballot. Ballot design sounds like a possibility.

[Augiedog]

20. They should be careful what they wish for. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

[Downtown Hound]

21. Bring it on.

These assholes don't scare me.

[FakeNoose]

22. They have to decide about the Pensacola area, some votes were sent by email

The votes should be disqualified for being illegal. However the panhandle area is right-wing so it means the votes are probably mostly for Republicans. This is a big deal that the FL-GOP will probably start another lawsuit over. It just came out today, but they've known about it since November 6th - hoping the media wouldn't find out.

What a bunch of cheating fucks they all are.

[spanone]

25. K&R...

[oldlibdem]

29. We can not sit idly by while the repubs try to steal the election!

Count every vote! count every vote! count every vote!....

[Bfd]

30. How many Senators do we need to at least tie?

Because..when Trump AND Pence are both indicted and House Speaker moves to fill that #1 Spot & chooses her #2 Spot, then ...Pence won't be around to Break the Senate Tie!!
And don't tell me that Repubs are seeing another SC spot opening up with RBG's springtime retirement.

That's the scenario I want to see.

Pence is compromised as well as Trump.
They both go.

[DFW]

34. We lost 3 and only picked up 2

And that is assuming we keep Florida and Montana.

We picked up Arizona and Nevada, but lost Missouri, North Dakota and Indiana. McTurtle stays on as majority leader.

[Botany]

33. Fuck 'em we need to fight for every vote every time.

Florida 2000, Ohio 2004, Georgia & Alabama 2002, South Carolina dem primary 2010,
Ky governor's race 2015, and Trump winning in 2016 ..... enough we have to fight.

* https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211416264

[dlk]

35. Republicans Have Been Cheating to Win for so Long, They Believe They're Entitled to Win

[dewsgirl]

51. I believe you are 100% correct.

[Dopers_Greed]

39. Skeletor knows he can't win in a fair race, which is why he's trying to stop the count.

This creep should not be allowed in the Senate.

[wiggs]

40. By Florida law, they are supposed to not count after Thursday. What if it takes longer? nt

[sharedvalues]

44. No. Not supposed to stop counting BEFORE thursday

Thursday is the deadline for absentee ballots to arrive. Counting can take longer than that.

Where did you see the falsehood about the law?

[wiggs]

45. a few places

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/11/politics/florida-recount-palm-beach-county/index.html looks like this pertains to the machine count only

https://www.news4jax.com/news/elections/vote-tallies-due-today-in-floridas-hotly-contested-elections

https://www.news4jax.com/news/politics/the-florida-recount-is-now-official-heres-how-it-will-work looks like certification is the 20th

[Honeycombe8]

41. As long as there is a chance he could win, we should wait for all the votes to be counted.

I don't know if he could win or not. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. But if it's possible, then that is just a fact. It's possible.

[sharedvalues]

42. Good. And we are going to tell them to get lost.

If we win, we win.
And screw their voter suppression too.

[pdsimdars]

50. I keep wondering, don't we have law enforcement to stop riots

or does that only apply if the protests are on the left?

[duforsure]

52. I wonder because they are so desperate now

If Putin was involved in this Florida race with his hackers, and that's why Scott and others (trump) are acting out so much now. I suspect a number of races the FBI was very closely watching, and know what was done already. If it comes up , then trump and scott will be connected to it I suspect. They both are very corrupt, and treasonous. Anything to win.

[IluvPitties]

53. I hope he wins! Too bad we are stuck with DeSantis.

[peekaloo]

54. If in fact there were under votes in Broward that's a very real possibility.

Local teevee has dug up Katherine Harris for her "memories"/assessment and was surprised to hear her fully support a statewide recount "this time".

[Blue_true]

58. Yeah.

Republicans are going to lose their shit if Nelson, Gillum and Fried win. In Florida, that is close to worse case for republicans, it shows an enormous loss of their grip on the state.