Results in this week’s US elections hung in the balance on Thursday, two days after polling, with accusations flying of voter fraud and corruption, as several races appeared headed for recounts.
The Republican challenger in Florida’s closely fought US Senate seat said he was suing two election officials as his apparent lead in the contest narrowed.
“The people of Florida deserve fairness and transparency,” Rick Scott told reporters. “Every Floridian should be concerned, there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward counties.”
Scott, who is the state’s sitting governor, said he was ordering an official investigation into his own race.
The announcement prompted a tweet from US President Donald Trump alleging a “big corruption scandal,” while US Senator Marco Rubio accused Democrats of a coordinated effort to “steal the election.”
Both Scott’s race for the Senate — against Democrat incumbent Bill Nelson — and the state’s governor election appeared headed for mandatory recounts.
Polls closed on Tuesday in the midterm elections, which saw Democrats seize control of the US House of Representatives, while Republicans maintained their grip on the Senate.
Scott’s lawsuits alleged a lack of transparency over the counting process and asked that further details be made public, as his lead shrank to about 15,000 votes.
“Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach,” Trump tweeted.
“Florida voted for Rick Scott!” he wrote.
Unusual voting discrepancies were reported in Broward County.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel said it analyzed voting patterns and found that of Broward ballots already counted, 24,700 residents voted for a governor candidate, but did not pick a candidate for the Senate.
The pattern appeared in no other Florida county, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, in governors’ races, Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia saw the contests tilt in favor of their Republican rivals.
Unofficial results showed Gillum trailing Republican Ron DeSantis by 38,515 votes out of 8.1 million cast, or 0.47 percentage points, while Abrams was threatening legal action to ensure all votes were counted in her contest.
Since the election, “it has become clear there are many more uncounted ballots than was originally reported,” Gillum spokeswoman Johanna Cervone said, amid reports that ballots had yet to be counted in Broward County.
Gillum is “ready for any outcome, including a state-mandated recount,” she said.
State law says a recount is mandatory if the difference in a race is within 0.5 percent. If the margin is within 0.25 percent, as it stood on Thursday in the Senate race, a hand recount — slower and more thorough than by machine — is ordered.
Another Senate race in southwestern Arizona that was previously called in favor of a Republican candidate was tilting toward the Democrat on Thursday night, official results showed.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
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