Bill Nelson Concedes the Senate Race With Shades of Abrams

FILE- In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.l istens during a roundtable discussion with education leaders from South Florida at the United Teachers of Dade headquarters in Miami. Caught in one of the toughest campaign fights in his lengthy political career Nelson’s recent comments that Russians are meddling in Florida’s election system has triggered a firestorm for the mild-mannered politician. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

Senator implies suppression took place, after HE tried Gaming the system.

Look, I’m as surprised as anyone. The hand recounts were completed for the Florida election this weekend in relatively event-free fashion. (I know! I cannot believe it either!) But the results came in and, save for the Agriculture Commissioner seat, dramatics were at a minimum. After the governor’s race was settled the day prior, Sunday Senator Bill Nelson actually conceded the election to outgoing Governor Rick Scott.

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In a video Nelson gave his wan exit speech, delivering an extremely large dose of political pablum in his trademarked “Is he done YET?!” style of speech. But then towards the end of his banality was this segment, which intentionally is meant to cast doubt on the election results.

We must end all forms of voter suppression, make it easier for Americans to vote, and honor the ideal that we are governed by the majority and not by the minority rule.

Reading that segment understand something: there is no raging debate of merit that voter suppression took place in Florida. The closest thing to a controversy over voter disenfranchisement is that there was a significant number of “undervotes” for the Senate race in Broward County. Speculation is that the ballot design may have contributed to this result. The first column of the ballot was lengthy, and the candidate choices were positioned low on the form, towards the bottom left. Election experts deem this a taboo.

This hoped-for “controversy” died off rather quickly once it was pointed out that the ballot was designed by Supervisor Of Elections Brenda Snipes — an elected Democrat — submitted to a review board of Democrats, and mailed out to a largely Democrat-skewing population — all without protest.

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This also cuts to a glaring contradiction taking place in regional political circles. We are frequently told in this state that the GOP only has a stronghold because there are so many rural red counties filled with uneducated voters, while the Democrats dominate the educated urban centers. This oft-repeated canard is dispelled easily, because the breakdown among the college educated voters was quite close, with Nelson getting 52% to Scott receiving 48%.

The amusing aspect here is that the same social critics turn around and explain the loss of votes on their side using a manner lacking self-awareness. While telling us that the GOP is dominated by a bunch of uneducated rubes in farm country, Nelson is said to have loss Democrat votes because the ballot was “too hard to read”.

Beyond that amusement, there is a very significant pull quote to be found in Nelson’s farewell, where he mentions “honoring the ideal” of the voting process. It takes a wealthy dose of brazen cynicism for this man to utter that phrase following his attempt, along with a squadron of Democrat lawyers, to actively undermine Florida Election law for his benefit.

Routinely the legal hounds went to court to have the legislation altered to fit their whims and allow for more votes to be counted, with the assumption being this would lead to net gains for the Democratic candidate. One effort was how they attempted to have recount deadlines extended beyond the conscripted legal cutoff dates, largely due to issues attributable to the ineptitude of Democratic poll workers.

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In another case the lawyers argued against the signature matching standards for absentee ballots. Not content alone to claim those workers making a determination were not properly trained, the Democrat barristers decided to swing for the fences. They made the case that all the early-voting ballots cast should dispense with the signature rule entirely. They called for the ballots to be counted as valid, sight unseen. (The judge rightfully laughed that aspect out of the courtroom.)

One additional case carried some defined underhanded brinksmanship by the party squealing about vote illegalities. The Democrat lawyers wanted to have the deadline extended for voters to correct issues with provisional ballots, but this was done with a bit of a long game ploy. It has been discovered — and an investigation is underway looking into things — that a state document that was mailed out to voters announcing they had a deadline prior to the election to repair ballot issues had been altered.

In four counties (each a Democrat stronghold) the deadline date on these forms had been altered to days after the election. The intent was that a judge would ultimately rule that the deadline be extended, and as a result any ballots “repaired” after the election would ultimately be declared valid.

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Weigh these details against the words of Bill Nelson and his earnestness becomes as hollow as a beer cooler after a NASCAR event. He intimates that voter suppression was in play as he tried skirting and bending election laws, and invokes the word “honor” as his own party has been shown to work the system to manufacture votes in a close contest.

The projection by these players is as fractured as the polls that projected results for these midterms.

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