Anonymous ID: 9c7a3d Nov. 12, 2018, 6:47 p.m. No.3877426   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Florida AG Bondi Orders Investigation of Election Irregularities

 

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered an investigation while criticizing the state’s head of law enforcement for inaction on multiple instances of what Bondi called “clearly documented irregularities in the conduct of election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties in the 2018 election.”

 

“I am directing you to take the necessary steps to promote public safety and to assure that our state will guarantee integrity in our elections process,” she said in a Nov. 11 letter to Rick Swearingen, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) commissioner.

 

The two counties face a barrage of lawsuits for their handling of the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

 

The FDLE previously stated it didn’t start an investigation because it didn’t receive a criminal referral from the Florida Department of State, which oversees elections.

 

Bondi reminded the FDLE it doesn’t need to wait for a written complaint when relevant information, including a request for an investigation, has already been widely reported in the media.

 

“I expect any responsible law enforcement agency … to evaluate the credibility of the source who made the verbal request, gather facts, and conduct an inquiry rather than simply citing the lack of [a] piece of paper,” she said.

 

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, called for an investigation on Nov. 8 after the two heavily pro-Democratic counties kept adding early voting and absentee ballots two days after the deadline stipulated by law.

 

Scott finished Election Night about 75,000 votes, or 0.9 percent ahead of Nelson, but the margin dwindled to about 12,500, or 0.15 percent, by Nov. 10, mainly because of the ballots added late by Broward and Palm Beach.

 

Margins below 0.5 percent automatically trigger a machine recount under state law. Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered the recount on Nov. 10 for the Scott-Nelson race and five tight state-level races—most notably the gubernatorial contest in which Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis holds a 34,000-vote lead on the Democratic candidate, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.

 

The recounts must be concluded by Nov. 15; if any race ends with a margin of less than 0.25 percent, Detzner will need to order a manual recount.

 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/florida-ag-orders-investigation-of-election-irregularities_2714397.html

 

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