On Thursday night, President Donald Trump tweeted:
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018
Trump was referring to the still unsettled elections in Florida, where both the gubernatorial and Senate race are so close that they are heading for a recount. In the gubernatorial race, Republican Ron DeSantis has 49.6 percent of the vote as against 49.2 percent for Democrat Andrew Gillum. In the Senate race, Republican Rick Scott has 50.1 percent of the vote against Democrat Bill Nelson, who has 49.1 percent. The Scott/Nelson race has been narrowing especially fast as counting continues in traditionally Democratic areas such as Broward County.
According to The Sun-Sentinel, Scott launched a lawsuit on Thursday against Broward County’s elections supervisor Brenda Snipes, alleging a lack of transparency. According to the lawsuit, “The lack of transparency raises substantial concerns about the validity of the election process.”
It’s unclear what “law enforcement” the president was referring to, since election laws are a state matter. As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo suggests, the goal might be to bolster Scott in the ongoing battle:
2/ Republicans try to steal elections they're losing.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 9, 2018