Florida Senator Cries Fraud to Undermine Vote-Counting Process
In 2018, Rick Scott — at the time the governor of Florida — claimed without evidence that there was “
rampant fraud” in the U.S. Senate election he ended up winning. This was a stark example of candidates in close races making wild fraud allegations to discredit the vote-counting process.
Scott’s
claims of
fraud were
quickly and
widely rejected, including by members of his own administration. For example, election monitors from Scott’s administration
reported that they saw no evidence of fraud in Broward County, a focal point of Scott’s accusations. A state judge, in an emergency lawsuit brought by the Scott campaign, also
said that he had seen no evidence of fraud. Ultimately, in April 2020, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
closed lengthy investigations into these issues, finding no evidence to support Scott’s allegations of widespread fraud.