Florida not using Broward County's recount tally because it uploaded results 2 minutes late

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

Florida will not use results from Broward County's machine recount because the office submitted its results two minutes past the 3 p.m. deadline Thursday.

“We uploaded to the state two minutes late so the state has chosen not to use our machine recount results. They are going to use our first unofficial results as our second unofficial results,” Joe D’Alessandro, an electing official, said, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

A lawyer for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) confirmed Broward County was unable to submit its recount results.

D’Alessandro added to the Sun-Sentinel that the recount was submitted late because of his unfamiliarity with Florida's website. He also said that there was a difference of about 2,000 votes between the manual recount and the one tabulated earlier.

Read more: https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/417042-florida-not-using-broward-countys-recount-tally-because-it-uploaded

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Shenanigans.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. Seems ridiculously harsh - indeed, a dick move - for being 2 minutes late... geeez!!

[oneshooter]

15. Would you believe the same if it was a repub counting the votes? n/t

[lostnfound]

24. Meanwhile, entire counties were allowed to submit votes by email or fax

So much for standard rules.

[PoliticAverse]

2. "In Broward, it appears that under the machine recount, BOTH Senate candidates LOST votes"

Link to tweet

[at140]

3. Good reason for 2 min late!

[LisaL]

25. How could they lose votes?

One would they think they should have gained votes, as provisional and absentee ballots are counted.

[George II]

4. Thankfully the first count wasn't too far off from the second count, and the vote remained within...

...the manual recount range. So the manual recount will proceed.

I don't know why these people have ridiculous time limits for votes, especially since different counties have huge differences in voters. Probably some counties can count all their votes on their election officials' fingers and toes whereas Broward and Palm Beach counties have huge numbers.

For example, Liberty and Lafayette Counties only have 4300 registered voters each, Broward has 1.1 million voters. Why is the same time limit applied to both?

[former9thward]

17. Broward has hundreds of times the machines that those other counties have.

And hundreds of times the election workers. I suspect you know that.

[LanternWaste]

23. Economies of scale can easily become unwieldy under their own weight.

I suspect you don't know that...

[SergeStorms]

5. Florida sucks at voting.

They just can't get that 'voting thing' together down there. Old equipment, older people who can't see or follow directions correctly (hey, I'm 69 yrs. old, I'm allowed) and Republicans who believe they deserve every election, whether they actually get the most votes or not.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. What did the rules say what was absolutely, positively the deadline?

The IRS says my taxes have to be turned in or postmarked by 11:59:59 p.m on April 15. Two minutes later is no good.

D’Alessandro added to the Sun-Sentinel that the recount was submitted late because of his unfamiliarity with Florida's website.

Then hire somebody who is familiar with the website.

What shenanigans?

[Tribalceltic]

16. I mailed mine two days late one year

they never said a thing

[rlegro]

21. Two minutes or two months later to file your IRS returns...

.... is fine, as long as you file for an extension.

[NCjack]

7. Fine the bureaucrats responsible, but count the votes. nt

[unblock]

8. this is really stupid, essentially punishing the electorate for a tiny clerical error.

if they're proceeding to a manual recount, maybe it doesn't really matter.

but post-election legal battles are filled with idiotic deadlines and procedures that often seem to go against the general concept of counting every vote accurately and fairly.

it's not clear to me how anything is made better by ignoring a tally that's two minutes late. at a minimum, it creates an opportunity for election officials to see the results and then decide whether or not to submit the results on time depending on whether they personally like the numbers or not.


it may not matter in this case, but it's a silly rule and even sillier to enforce it so strictly.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Just off the wall ?, is the changing demographics of FL (older folks etc. moving to FL)...

maybe causing issues? Seems like always FL.

[former9thward]

18. "Older folks" have been moving to FL for decades.

It is not new. As someone who has worked for the Board of Elections in both Arizona and Chicago it is the young voters who mess up when they come into vote. They don't have a clue about what is going on.

[SWBTATTReg]

29. Thanks. I wondered why FL seems to be rather confusing at election times and ...

remember the constantly changing demographics of FL (and a lot of the southern states I'd imagine) w/ the constant inflow of new residents moving in (snowbirds). It must be an administrative nightmare to keep on top of. Take care.

[bhikkhu]

10. Kind of stupid, but ultimately inconsequential

"Unfamiliarity with Florida's website" doesn't speak to great competence. In any case, it goes to a manual recount. I don't expect a different result, but a good result would be that the votes all get counted, according to the law. Not following the law was what fucked things up in 2000.

[MichMan]

11. Since both candidates lost votes in the recount....

… it would appear that all the votes were counted the first time (and maybe some more than once) Does make one suspicious, right or wrong, that if didn't like the second results, could have been late on purpose ?

Why does Broward County seemingly suck at this election thingy time and time again?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

12. So the program to upload the vote totals was as f*cked up as everything else in Florida's voting

system. My understanding is that the count was done 15 minutes early, but whoever was inputting the data couldn't get the website to work. As a web designer, the first thing you learn is that it doesn't matter how pretty a website is if it can't be used effortlessly. That means not hiding data entry pages behind a mish-mosh of menus. And you make sure the most important pages -- like entering vote totals -- are the easiest to get to and the easiest to use. Everything should be intuitive.

But this is the state that invented the butterfly ballot and sticking the most significant offices (Senator) at the bottom of the ballot, so what should we expect when it comes to computers?

Of course, it wouldn't have hurt if the person who was going to input the data had taken the time to get familiar with the website before it was crunch time, and maybe have a backup person available.

I think in a way Florida is like Trump -- it loves the attention it gets from all the chaos it creates.

[MadDAsHell]

13. An "electing official" is unfamiliar with his own state's website.

The incompetence is astounding. Your tax dollars at work Florida...

[beachbum bob]

14. The time is the time. It's browards election officials who screwed up

[Ford_Prefect]

19. There is the letter of the law and there is the spirit of the law as it was intended.

If the error of 2 minutes time did not alter the numbers as counted then the debate is over whether the intention of the deadline was to ensure an accurate and representative count of the votes. If the website portal through which the votes are entered was indeed faulty then whom does it serve to punish the voters of Broward County thus?

Had it been a manual handover of a vote tally sheet, and the courier had been delayed by an unforeseen traffic event en route to the delivery point, would it serve to the citizens and voters of Florida to deny the count?

It is a meaningful point of law to consider it thus.

[keithbvadu2]

20. Trump is late getting his babies-in-cages back to their families.

Trump is late getting his babies-in-cages back to their families.

Not much for penalties but big bucks for his contractor pals running the camps.

[no_hypocrisy]

26. I can see why the results were refused.

You know that Rick Scott would file yet another lawsuit to have those results invalidated or refused. This was a pre-emptive move.

[Perrenial Voter]

27. The bottom-line is that the government is disenfranchising

citizens because of the government's own incompetence, not because of anything the voters themselves did. Under the constitution, the states are responsible for elections; in Florida, the state has mandated that counties conduct the polls and vote counting, but the state is ultimately responsible for managing them. I don't think it should be legal for them to use voter disenfranchisement as a tool for election management; it's rather like fining a tax-payer because the IRS took longer than it should have to cash a check.

[SWBTATTReg]

30. Good point, votes should not be used as a tool to manage this process. Evaluation of workers ...

and others should be, pay, etc.

[dubyadiprecession]

28. We're still heading for a manual recount,right?

[PoliticAverse]

32. For the Senate race yes. See...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-to-know-about-the-florida-recounts-senate-hand-recount-underway/

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. Does it matter, with the results to be determined by manual recount?

Or is the county's manual recount also kept out of the total?