Ex-Bush strategist: Count all the votes in Florida, don’t repeat mistakes of 2000

A former aide on George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign urged Florida officials to count all the votes from Tuesday’s midterm elections, urging the state to avoid the same “grave injustice” from the contentious recount 18 years ago.

“Not counting all the votes in Florida in 2000 was a grave injustice and caused many to question the legitimacy of Bush election,” Matthew Dowd tweeted Friday. “Let us not repeat that injustice in FL and AZ this year. Count all the votes.”

I worked on the Bush campaign in 2000 and was chief strategist in 2004. Not counting all the votes in Florida in 2000 was a grave injustice and caused many to question the legitimacy of Bush election. Let us not repeat that injustice in FL and AZ this year. Count all the votes.

— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 9, 2018

Dowd worked on the Bush campaign in 2000 and was a chief strategist during the 2004 reelection campaign. Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 and fought a 36-day battle to recount votes in Florida.

{mosads}The Florida Supreme Court proposed a recount in 2000 that was ultimately stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court, giving Bush a majority in the Electoral College. Gore later conceded the race to Bush.

The 2018 Florida Senate race between Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R) has tightened and appears headed for a recount.

Scott appeared to have the lead, but new vote tallies, primarily from Broward and Palm Beach counties, have narrowed the gap. He led Nelson by 0.18 percentage point on Thursday, below the 0.25 threshold that triggers a hand recount.

Scott filed a lawsuit against Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, alleging that her office withheld information regarding how many people voted, how many ballots have been counted and how many more votes have not been tallied in Broward.

In Arizona, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) took the lead Thursday in the state’s too-close-to-call Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R). She now holds a 9,610-vote lead over Rep. Martha McSally (R).

Approximately 500,000 votes remain uncounted.

The Arizona GOP filed a lawsuit after Sinema jumped ahead, alleging the state’s county recorders didn’t follow the standard procedure for addressing voter concerns over mail-in ballots.

A judge rejected the GOP’s demands to immediately limit vote counts and scheduled a Friday hearing regarding 5,600 votes from Maricopa County.