Nov. 12 (UPI) — President Donald Trump called for an end to the Florida recount and declared victory for the Republican candidates for U.S. senate and the governor’s seat.
The hotly contested races are still undecided with more than 8 million votes being recounted.
In the Senate race, Republican Gov. Rick Scott has a 0.15 percent lead over incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson. It’s a difference of 12,562 votes.
For the governor’s race, Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis leads Democrat Andrew Gillum by 34,000 votes, or 0.41 percent.
“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible–ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” Trump tweeted.
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said he hasn’t seen any evidence of voter fraud in Tuesday’s elections.
Florida’s state Senate race, two state House races and the state agricultural commissioner are also too close to call.
If any of the races are within 0.25 percent after the machine recount, a hand recount will follow.
The recounts must be completed by 3 p.m. Thursday but election officials have said they will not be able to meet that deadline.
Gillum responded to Trump directly, saying, “You sound nervous. #CountEveryVote.”
I am replacing my earlier concession with an unapologetic and uncompromised call to count every vote.- Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) November 10, 2018
Other key races around the country are still in dispute.
In Arizona, ballots are still being counted for the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally. Sinema has a 1.5 percent lead but there are still 215,000 ballots uncounted.
Sinema won the counties where the uncounted ballots are from so it will be an uphill ballot for McSally.
“With the latest ballot count, Kyrsten’s lead is insurmountable,” Sinema’s campaign manager said in a statement Sunday.
Trump also raised the issue of voter fraud in Arizona.
“Just out–Arizona, SIGNATURES DON’T MATCH. Electoral corruption–Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy!” Trump tweeted.
In Georgia, the governor’s race remains undecided even as Republican candidate Brian Kemp proclaims victory. Democrat Stacey Abrams has refused to concede. The vote margin is at 58,875. n.
Abrams filed a lawsuit Sunday accusing Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state, of rejecting voter registration applications from minorities prior to the election.
Kemp’s campaign responded with a statement that included updated numbers that include military, overseas and provisional ballots. They accused the Abrams campaign of filing frivolous lawsuits and trying to steal the election.
“Stacey Abrams and her radical backers have moved from desperation to delusion,” said Ryan Mahoney, communications director for Kemp’s campaign. “The counts are in line with publicly available tracking reports. This is not breaking news and does not change the math. Stacey Abrams lost and her concession is long overdue.”
Trump said it’s time to move on.
“.@BrianKempGA ran a great race in Georgia–he won,” Trump tweeted.
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