Florida Judge Extends Recount Deadline for Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County’s deadline to recount midterm votes has been extended to Nov. 20, ruled Judge Karen Geivers of Leon County, Florida. That is about five days after the original 3 p.m. Nov. 15 deadline, reported the Daily Commercial on Nov. 13.

The deadline for machine recounts in Palm Beach County encompass all the state races, including for the U.S. Senate and governor’s race.

Jim Bonfiglio, a Democrat locked in a contest for a House seat, filed a lawsuit which triggered Geivers’ ruling, The Hill reported. The lawsuit asked the judge to extend the deadline for vote reporting against Republican Mike Caruso.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered the recounts on Nov. 10 and Florida state law requires that the results of the machine recounts be submitted by Nov. 15, The Hill noted.

On Nov. 13, President Donald Trump criticized Sen. Nelson for not conceding his seat to Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican. Scott currently holds a slim lead over Nelson.

“When will Bill Nelson concede in Florida? The characters running Broward and Palm Beach voting will not be able to ‘find’ enough votes, too much spotlight on them now!” the president tweeted earlier in the day.

Broward County and its embattled elections supervisor have faced the most scrutiny in the recount efforts.

“I’ve worked here for about 15 years and I have to say this the first time that this office or I have been under such attacks,” Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes told reporters Nov. 12, Breitbart reported. “There have been issues that haven’t gone the way we wanted it. You can call it a mistake or you can call it whatever you want to call it.”

Snipes, meanwhile, hinted that “it’s time to move on,” suggesting that she might not run for re-election as supervisor in 2020. No final decision has been made.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of State said they haven’t received any credible allegations of voter fraud or criminal activity.