Florida’s highest-ranking government officials are increasing the pressure on state police to get involved in the counting of ballots in heavily Democratic South Florida as Gov. Rick Scott clings to a lead over Bill Nelson during a statewide recount of their nationally relevant U.S. Senate contest. 
 
 Attorneys for Scott’s campaign filed emergency motions Sunday requesting that embattled elections supervisors in Palm Beach and Broward counties turn over custody of their vote-tabulation machines and ballots to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and sheriff’s deputies during times when votes aren’t being counted. The motions come days after Scott claimed that “unethical liberals” in the two counties were trying to steal his election after late-developing returns narrowed his margins over Nelson and forced him into an ongoing statewide recount. 
 
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 Also on Sunday, Attorney General Pam Bondi told FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen in a letter that she was “deeply troubled” by his agency’s decision to decline Scott’s press conference request to investigate elections fraud in the two counties and urged him to reconsider. 
 
 Scott has presented no evidence to back up his fraud allegations, and the Department of State has said its elections monitors have uncovered no criminal behavior. But amid a high-stakes battle over each of the 8.3 million votes cast in Tuesday’s midterms, Scott’s campaign is continuing to lean hard on the elections process in a densely populated area of the state that could make or break his 12,562-vote lead. 
 
 Letter+to+Swearingen by Dave Wilson on Scribd 
 
 “As long as the Supervisor of Elections has unsupervised, unaccountable, and unfettered access to the ballot boxes, she will be able to destroy evidence of any errors, accidents, or unlawful conduct — making it nearly impossible for an aggrieved party to prosecute their claims or discover later what has actually occurred in the electoral process,” attorney Jason Zimmerman wrote in the complaint filed against Broward Supervisor or Elections Brenda Snipes. 
 
 SHARE COPY LINK Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips also held that Brenda Snipes, Broward’s supervisor of elections, was in violation of Florida public-records laws for not turning over the records requested by Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign for U.S. Senate. 
 
 Democrats, who’ve accused Scott and Republican attorneys of voter suppression, reacted harshly. Mark Herron, an election lawyer who represented Al Gore in the 2000 presidential recount, called Scott’s push to involve state police an “abuse of power.” Joe Geller, a Miami state representative and election lawyer called it an “extraordinary” and unwarranted request, although courts in New York recently ordered ballots impounded in a congressional race at the request of Democratic frontrunner Anthony Brindisi. 
 
 Letter+to+Detzner by on Scribd 
 
 Scott’s campaigns filed the lawsuits — including a third that seeks to invalidate any ballots counted in Broward after Saturday’s deadline to submit unofficial results — as elections departments around the state hustled Sunday to try and meet a 3 p.m. Thursday deadline to recount the ballots cast during the state’s midterm elections. Recounts were also ordered in contests for governor and commissioner of agriculture due to a state law that requires a machine recount for any statewide election decided by a half of a percentage point or less. 
 
 Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, left, and Republican Gov. Rick Scott. 
 
 Starting Saturday, Miami-Dade had employees working 24 hours a day to finish the process. Broward and Palm Beach have struggled. Machine troubles delayed the start of Broward’s recount operations until late Sunday morning. The Palm Beach Post reported that Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher warned this weekend that Thursday’s deadline will be “impossible” to meet, presenting the possibility that her unofficial results provided to the state on Saturday will stand. 
 
 Interjecting state and local police into the mix could complicate the timeline. 
 
 “In suing to seize ballots and impound voting machines, Rick Scott is doing his best to impersonate Latin American dictators who have overthrown Democracies in Venezuela and Cuba,” said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Peñalosa in an emailed statement Sunday evening. “The governor is using his position to consolidate power by cutting at the very core of our democracy.” 
 
 But missteps by Bucher and Snipes, at the very least, have opened the door to warranted skepticism. 
 
 Scott last week won court orders from judges in both counties after he alleged in lawsuits that Bucher was improperly conducting activities involving ballots in private that should have been performed in front of the canvassing board, the body responsible for overseeing the ballot-counting process and ruling on ballots of questionable validity. 
 
 Snipes, who has been repeatedly slapped by judges over gaffes in recent years, was ordered by a judge to provide information related to uncounted ballots and issues after she repeatedly declined to provide basic details about her operations to the press or the candidates. 
 
 Snipes’ staff also managed to mix up 22 invalid provisional ballots with 183 valid ones this week, and included the votes deemed illegitimate by the Broward County canvassing board in her unofficial vote total to the state. In a conference call with reporters, Tim Cerio, an elections attorney representing Scott in South Florida, noted that the only reasons the problematic ballots were discovered in the first place is because attorneys observing the canvassing board demanded that Snipes present the ballots to the board. 
 
 “We’re going to stand up to those who would violate the law and particularly those with a rampant history of voter fraud,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the Republican Senate campaign committee. 
 
 The recounted vote tallies in South Florida could prove crucial in the ongoing recounts. Once recounted vote tallies are submitted to the state Thursday, any races still within one quarter of 1 percent will be subject to an automatic hand recount, during which so-called “under-votes” and “over-votes” — ballots in which voters chose too few or too many candidates — will be reviewed ballot by ballot by canvassing boards. 
 
 While former congressman Ron DeSantis is far enough ahead of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum that a hand recount is unlikely to occur in the race for governor, Scott and Nelson are expecting to continue fighting on into the weekend. Hand recount tallies would be due by Nov. 18. And South Florida, a heavily Democratic region of the state, contains more than 35,000 ballots that are considered under-votes in the Senate race. Nelson’s campaign is also fighting to include ballots rejected over signature mismatches in voting totals. 
 
 With so much attention paid to Broward County, protesters have been virtually camped outside Snipes’ Lauderhill office for three days. An angry crowd shouted down Florida Sen. Perry Thurston and Florida Democratic Party attorney Mitchell Berger when they appeared in a make-shift “free speech zone” designated in the parking lot outside to address the media Sunday afternoon. 
 
 “Everyone wants these votes counted,” Berger said, arguing that hundreds of mail-in ballots were caught up in an Opa-locka mail center and not counted due to a federal investigation of the Aventura man who sent more than a dozen pipe bombs to Democrats around the state. 
 
 
 
 
 
 “Fake news,” someone shouted. “More Democratic lies,” another yelled. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Berger said he and a Republican counterpart, lawyer William Scherer representing Scott’s senate campaign, both observed the recount process Sunday morning and decided it was all above board. “We both agree there’s no fraud going on,” he said, to jeers and laughter. 
 
 Inside Snipes’ headquarters, Eugene Pettis, attorney for Broward’s Supervisor of Elections office, said there will be a hearing in front of a judge sometime Monday to discuss the issue of ballot and voting machine custody. 
 
 “They have control here,” Pettis said, referring to the law enforcement officers watching the process and the elections monitors watching the process for the last few weeks. 
 
 Scott on Sunday seemed to soften his allegations of fraud after he was criticized when he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate Snipes and Bucher. That criticism grew in volume when the FDLE declined to investigate, saying it had received no formal request from Scott or evidence of fraud. State elections monitors in Broward County also reported that they had reported no evidence of criminal behavior. 
 
 But Republicans remain concerned, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Sunday wrote a letter urging the head of FDLE to investigate Snipes and Bucher. 
 
 “I am deeply troubled by our announcement that you will not pursue any investigation or inquiry into clearly documented irregularities in the conduct of election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties in the 2018 elections,” Bondi wrote to FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen. 
 
 Snipes remains adamant that she has done nothing wrong, and defiant in the face of criticism. Critics also note that Scott could have sought to remove her from office during his eight years as governor over the litany of issues with her office cited in his recent lawsuits. 
 
 Ironically, another embattled elected Broward Democrat — Sheriff Scott Israel — would have oversight of ballots if the Scott campaign gets its way. 
 
 Supervisors have until Thursday to submit machine recount totals. Under Florida law, any hand recount totals would be due Nov. 18. Final results are to be certified on Nov. 20 by Florida’s Elections Canvassing Commission. The board consists of two members of the Florida Cabinet — and Gov. Rick Scott. 
 
 This article has been updated to note that ballots have been impounded in the race for the 22nd congressional district of New York. 
 
 Miami Herald reporters Glenn Garvin, Maya Kaufman and Carli Teproff contributed to this report. ||||| Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, left, and judge Betsy Benson of the election canvassing board, listen to arguments, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, at the Broward Supervisor of Elections office... (Associated Press) 
 
 Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, left, and judge Betsy Benson of the election canvassing board, listen to arguments, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018, at the Broward Supervisor of Elections office in Lauderhill, Fla. (Joe Cavaretta /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP) (Associated Press) 
 
 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Mishaps, protests and litigation are overshadowing the vote recount in Florida's pivotal races for governor and Senate, reviving memories of the 2000 presidential fiasco in the premier political battleground state. 
 
 All 67 counties are facing a state-ordered deadline of Thursday to complete their recounts and half already had begun. Many other counties were expected to begin the work Monday after a weekend of recount drama in Broward and Palm Beach counties, home to large concentrations of Democratic voters. 
 
 The developments added up to a tumultuous political day in Florida. More than half of Florida's 67 counties began a recount process that's unprecedented even in a state notorious for settling elections by razor-thin margins. State officials said they weren't aware of any other time a race for governor or U.S. Senate required a recount, let alone both in the same election. 
 
 In Broward County, the recount was delayed for hours Sunday because of a problem with one of the tabulation machines. That prompted the Republican Party to slam Broward's supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes, for "incompetence and gross mismanagement." 
 
 Broward officials faced further headaches after acknowledging the county mistakenly counted 22 absentee ballots that had been rejected. The problem seemed impossible to fix because dismissed ballots were mixed in with 205 legal ballots and Snipes said it would be unfair to throw out all the votes. 
 
 Gov. Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for Senate, filed suit against Snipes. He was seeking a court order for law enforcement agents to impound all voting machines, tallying devices and ballots "when not in use until such time as any recounts." The suit accused Snipes of repeatedly failing to account for the number of ballots left to be counted and failing to report results regularly as required by law. 
 
 The court didn't immediately respond, though the outcry from Democrats was immediate. 
 
 Juan Penalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, accused Scott of "using his position to consolidate power by cutting at the very core of our democracy." 
 
 Meanwhile, in Palm Beach County, the supervisor of elections said she didn't think her department could meet Thursday's deadline to complete that recount, throwing into question what would happen to votes there. 
 
 The recount in other major population centers, including Miami-Dade and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in the Tampa Bay area, has been continuing without incident. Smaller counties were expected to begin reviews between Monday and Wednesday. 
 
 State officials said they weren't aware of any other time a race for governor or U.S. Senate required a recount, let alone both in the same election. The recount process in the two nationally watched midterm races is unprecedented even in a state notorious for settling elections by razor-thin margins. 
 
 Unofficial results showed Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis led Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41 percentage points in the governor's contest. In the Senate race, Scott's lead over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson was 0.14 percentage points. 
 
 State law requires a machine recount in races where the margin is less than 0.5 percentage points. Once completed, if the differences in any of the races are 0.25 percentage points or below, a hand recount will be ordered. 
 
 As the recount unfolded, Republicans urged their Democratic opponents to give up and let the state to move on. 
 
 Scott said Sunday that Nelson wants fraudulent ballots and those cast by noncitizens to count, pointing to a Nelson lawyer objecting to Palm Beach County's rejection of one provisional ballot because it was cast by a noncitizen. 
 
 "He is trying to commit fraud to win this election," Scott told Fox News. "Bill Nelson's a sore loser. He's been in politics way too long." 
 
 Nelson's campaign issued a statement later saying their lawyer wasn't authorized to object to the ballot's rejection as "Non-citizens cannot vote in US elections." 
 
 In Fort Lauderdale, Gillum appeared at a predominantly African-American church Sunday evening, warning against vote suppression and declaring voter disenfranchisement isn't just about being blocked from the polling booth. He said it also includes absentee ballots not being counted and ballots with mismatched signatures that "a volunteer may have the option of ... deciding that vote is null and void." 
 
 Gillum and Nelson have argued each vote should be counted and the process should take its course. 
 
 Both the state elections division, which Scott runs, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have said they have found no evidence of voter fraud. 
 
 That didn't stop protests outside Snipes' office, where a crowd of mostly Republicans gathered, holding signs, listening to country music and occasionally chanting "lock her up," referring to Snipes. A massive Trump 2020 flag flew over the parking lot and many members of a Bikers For Trump group wore matching shirts, mingling among a crowd that included a protester wearing a Hillary Clinton mask. 
 
 Registered independent Russell Liddick, a 38-year-old Pompano Beach retail worker, carried a sign reading, "I'm not here for Trump! I'm here for fair elections! Fire Snipes!" He said the office's problems "don't make me feel very much like my vote counted." 
 
 Florida is also conducting a recount in a third statewide race. Democrat Nikki Fried had a 0.07 percentage point lead over Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell for agriculture commissioner, one of Florida's three Cabinet seats. 
 
 For some, the recounts bring back memories of the 2000 presidential recount, when it took more than five weeks for Florida to declare George W. Bush the victor over Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes, thus giving Bush the presidency. 
 
 Much has changed since then. 
 
 In 2000, each county had its own voting system. Many used punch cards — voters poked out chads, leaving tiny holes in their ballots representing their candidates. Some voters, however, didn't fully punch out the presidential chad or gave it just a little push. Those hanging and dimpled chads had to be examined by the canvassing boards, a lengthy, tiresome and often subjective process that became fodder for late-night comedians. 
 
 Now the state requires all Florida counties to use ballots where voters use a pen to mark their candidate's name, much like a student taking a multiple-choice test. And how counts proceed is now clearly spelled out. 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP writers Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee contributed to this report. 
 
 ___ 
 
 For AP's complete coverage of the U.S. midterm elections: http://apne.ws/APPolitics
– With an unprecedented double recount underway in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott is fighting to get state police involved. The Republican governor—who is clinging to a slim lead in his Senate race with Democratic rival Bill Nelson—filed lawsuits Sunday calling for elections officials in Palm Beach and Broward counties to turn ballots, voting machines, and vote-counting machines over to law enforcement at times when votes aren't being counted, reports Reuters. Scott has claimed that "unethical liberals" in the two heavily Democratic counties are trying to steal the election, in which he currently has a lead of just 12,562 votes over Nelson, the Miami Herald reports. One of Scott's lawsuits warned that Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes could "destroy evidence of any errors, accidents, or unlawful conduct" if she had "unsupervised, unaccountable, and unfettered access to the ballot boxes." Florida Democrats reacted angrily, calling the move to involve police an "abuse of power," the Herald reports. State police and election officials say they have found no evidence of fraud, though protesters, some of them holding pro-Trump signs or chanting "Lock her up," still gathered outside Snipes' office on Sunday, the AP reports. A recount is also happening in the governor's race. (Palm Beach County officials say it will be "impossible" to meet the Thursday recount deadline.)