The noon deadline has arrived and passed for counties in Florida to submit their unofficial vote totals from Tuesday's election, and hotly disputed Broward county, which has been even more of a circus on Saturday than it already was, did not make the cut.
Palm Beach Post reporter Lulu Ramadan captured some of the chaos inside the Broward County elections office a short time ago. Police are posted at the entrances to the building, and outside, protesters and supporters hold signs and chant as the results, challenged by Republicans, subject to lawsuit, and top of the news, are supposed to be undergoing tally and review.
Trying to capture the chaos at Broward elections office: Lawyers from both parties are angry (for different reasons… https://t.co/fcSAwZN2bx— Lulu Ramadan 🌅 (@Lulu Ramadan 🌅) 1541868638.0
Already at issue today are some illegal votes that were mixed in with legal votes awaiting tally, and in the chaotic meeting Republicans directly challenged the board on those ballots, with little success.
At issue right now: At least 20 illegal votes were mixed into 205 ballots that were accepted (check out… https://t.co/ZXVmj3JQPs— Lulu Ramadan 🌅 (@Lulu Ramadan 🌅) 1541867557.0
With about thirty minutes to go to the deadline, county officials claimed they would have "99.997%" of votes tallied and ready to submit at noon, but that about 25 pages (not ballots) were remaining to be reviewed. The board then inexplicably took a recess with only 25 minutes until the deadline.
When noon passed, no news came out of the office, nor from the state, nor has the board website updated its totals to reflect the "99.997%" of the total which they reportedly agreed to submit.
This is a developing story, and will be updated.
UPDATE: BROWARD PRESSER LIVE
WATCH LIVE: Inside the Broward County Canvassing Board https://t.co/AczviiMSdE— CBS4 Miami (@CBS4 Miami) 1541867444.0
UPDATE 2: Snipes will not be answering reporters' questions.
Broward SOE Brenda Snipes and staff are holding a presser right now in response to GOP criticism.— Ali Schmitz (@Ali Schmitz) 1541871698.0
All 67 counties report unofficial totals by Saturday's noon deadline, according to state. Rick Scott leads Bill Nel… https://t.co/tOMQU2cXid— Steve Bousquet (@Steve Bousquet) 1541871256.0