Reprinted with permission from Alternet
As Florida began the process of recounting votes for the 2018 election cycle, Trump and his Republican cronies like Sen. Rick Scott pushed the unfounded theory that Democratic voter fraud was afoot. Scott worked vigilantly to stop the recount, even attempting to have voting machines and ballots impounded. It was a bogus claim, but recounting continued anyway. On Friday, Politico reported that Florida's law enforcement agency, tasked with investigating this supposed fraud, found ZERO cases of voter fraud.
So it turns out that the Nov. 8, 2018 tweet by Donald Trump saying "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!" was … bullshit. In all honesty, it was less than that, since I'm sure there is something of substance to be found in the excrement of a bull, and at the very least it probably can help fertilize soil. That's less than I can say for anything that comes out of Trump's mouth.
Last Wednesday, it was announced that no charges would be filed after the 18-month investigation into the pretend voter fraud. However, the one thing that was found during the investigation (and reported in April) was that Bay County Supervisor of Elections Mark Andersen allowed at least 12 voters in the GOP-dominated county to email their ballots, in violation of state law. However, while that should be a violation of state law, it seems that fraudulent intent was not found in that case and so no charges will be filed.
The charges of Democratic voter fraud have been the most egregious of projections on the part of the GOP the past few years, as the only real examples of sizable voter fraud have been committed by Republicans. In recent days, Republicans like original Florida man Rep. Matt Gaetz have begun priming their anti-democracy pump by charging that vote-by-mail initiatives are attempts to tip the scales in favor of Joe Biden. They are correct. The more Americans that vote, the better the chances that Trump's ability to thwart the popular vote diminishes. But these conspiracy theories of voter fraud speak to their minority base of followers who don't want to believe in a democracy that doesn't allow control for their dwindling oligarchy.
