Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Wednesday called for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) to stop his lawsuits over the vote count in Nelson’s reelection bid against Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R).
“Don’t tarnish your years of service to Florida,” Bush tweeted.
Nelson has filed several lawsuits challenging how Florida election officials tabulate and evaluate ballots amid the nationally watched race.
{mosads}On Tuesday, he asked a federal judge to delay the recount deadlines for his and other races in Florida, which were originally set for Wednesday.
Earlier the same day, a circuit court extended the deadline for a machine recount in Palm Beach County by five days.
Also on Tuesday, Nelson’s campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to stop top election officials from rejecting unconventionally marked ballots.
Nelson is running close behind Scott, who has taken his own legal action to ensure transparency in Broward and Palm Beach counties, where recounts are still taking place.
The courts ruled that the counties were not adequately transparent, but did not put forward any evidence of election fraud.
Likewise, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said it is not actively investigating either county, despite Scott’s request it does so, because it has not received credible allegations of fraud.
Scott has accused Nelson and his team of trying to commit election fraud.
When asked Sunday what evidence he had of such an attempt, Scott pointed to the 93,000 ballots that were found after election night.
State law requires the total votes to be tallied within 30 minutes of the election’s close.
“The laws are set up to stop fraud,” Scott told Fox News.
Nelson has in turn accused Scott of “trying to stop all the votes from being counted and…impeding the democratic process.”
The Hill could not reach Nelson for immediate comment regarding Bush’s statements at the time of publication.