Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has warned of a possible rigged election, but Florida officials say they’re fully confident the election will be fair and square in the Sunshine State.
Speaking in Southwest Florida Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott said he did not believe there would be a rigged election in Florida and said his overall goal for this year’s election is 100 percent participation and zero percent voter fraud.
“There are always going to be bad apples out there,” Scott, a chairman of a pro-Trump super PAC said. “Always people who try to do the wrong thing but we are going to work every day to make sure we have a fair election.”
Trump has said for weeks he believes the election could possibly be rigged and has warned members of his party of voter fraud.
"November 8th, we'd better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged,” Trump said. “And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or it's going to be taken away from us."
On Thursday, Trump said he would accept the election results if he won.
Other state politicians supporting Trump have also said they don’t believe the election will be rigged.
This week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio dispelled the notion of an unfair election during a debate with U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy.
"This election is not being rigged," Rubio said Monday. "There is no evidence behind any of this, so this should not continue to be said. We have 67 counties in this state, each of which conduct their own elections. I promise you there is not a 67-county conspiracy to rig this election.”
Meanwhile, state officials are currently working overtime to process and verify 64,000 voter registration applications submitted in a one-week period before Florida’s newly-extended voter registration deadline.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner said he was increasing staffing to help with the turnaround time in voter registration applications.
Gov. Scott said he was confident the election would go smoothly Nov. 8.
“We have a great secretary of state that’s working hard, like I am, to make sure we have fair elections,” he explained. “We have 67 elected or appointed supervisors of election, and I expect all of them are focused on getting good, fair elections. My expectation is everyone does the right thing. I think we have a process that works in our state.”
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
