First and foremost: There is no effort on the part of Democrats to commit voter fraud in Florida. There is nothing shady about counting ballots.
But since that vote-counting process has tightened the races for governor and U.S. Senate – pushing them both toward recounts – Republicans have been waging a disgusting freakout.
In short, the GOP – led by Donald Trump, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio – are intentionally sowing doubt in American democracy to their political benefit.
In an interview on MSNBC’s AM Joy on Saturday, Democratic pollster Fernand Amandi said the suspicious activity Americans should be up in arms about is that of Republicans who are trying to stop legal votes from being tallied, not Democrats trying to count them.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
“Why are the Republicans nationally and in Florida losing their collective minds when all that is trying to be done and all that is asked to be done is to count every single vote?” Amandi asked.
Video:
Pollster Fernand Amandi says what’s really suspicious in Florida isn’t Democrats wanting all the votes counted; it’s Republicans freaking out about it. #ctl #p2 #amjoy pic.twitter.com/ctGLDiRarf
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) November 10, 2018
Amandi said:
Whenever we do get to the legally mandated recount situations, like we do now, there’s always a collective Republican freak out. When all that we are trying to do in the state of Florida is … count the votes. Whether these undercount problems that you speak to in Broward are real or ballot scanned or machine issue problems, the legally mandated protocols and procedures should be able to address that. Now you have this specter of ballots that were timely mailed by the voters to a facility in Opa-locka that was contained as a result of the MAGA bomber, all of these these things have to be taken in place. But again, I ask the question: Why are the Republicans nationally and in Florida losing their collective minds when all that is trying to be done and all that is asked to be done is to count every single vote?
Republicans fighting to stop vote counting threatens American democracy
By trying to stop ballots from being counted in Florida – and in neighboring Georgia – Republicans are further undermining trust in American democracy, all so they can win a couple elections.
But this behavior doesn’t just extend to this year’s contests. It does great damage forward by laying the groundwork for any future Republican candidate – particularly Trump in 2020 – to shout voter fraud from the rooftops if they don’t like election results.
As former Barack Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer said Friday on Twitter, “It’s important to understand that Trump is trying set the stage for calling into question the integrity of the 2020 election if he loses.”
The behavior of the president of the United States and Republicans in Florida isn’t just shady politics; it is threatening democracy. It is un-American – full stop.
Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
