Ex-Dem lawmaker: My vote in Florida wasn’t counted due to signature issues

A former Democratic lawmaker in Florida said Friday that his absentee ballot for the midterm election was not counted due to an “invalid signature” match.

Patrick Murphy, a former congressman, said in a tweet that incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum were both missing votes from him in Palm Beach County.

Hey @MarcACaputo, just saw notice from @PBCounty that my absentee ballot wasn’t counted due to ‘invalid signature’ match. Should be +1 @NelsonForSenate @AndrewGillum. Must overhaul these ridiculous barriers to voting #FloridaRecount #FLSen #FLGov

— Patrick Murphy (@PatrickMurphyFL) November 9, 2018

Florida is potentially facing recounts in the Senate race between Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott (R), as well as the race for governor between Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) and former Rep. Ron DeSantis (R).

{mosads} Votes from Palm Beach and Broward counties are still coming in, cutting Scott’s lead over Nelson to just 0.18 percentage point.

Meanwhile, the margin in the gubernatorial race between Gillum and DeSantis narrowed to just 0.44 points on Thursday evening. 

A recount is automatically triggered in Florida if two candidates are within 0.5 points of each other, and a hand recount is mandated with a margin of 0.25 points or less.

Scott on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, alleging her office withheld records regarding how many people voted, how many ballots have been counted and how many more votes remain untallied in Broward.

He accused “unethical liberals” of trying to “steal this election.”

“The people of Florida deserve fairness and they deserve transparency and the supervisor of elections is refusing to give it to us,” Scott said.

President Trump on Thursday said that that law enforcement was looking into potential “election fraud” in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!” Trump echoed on Twitter Thursday night. 

Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018