The Republicans have mastered the art of stifling democracy by counting votes quickly in Republican counties, tolerating inefficiency in Democratic ones and then declaring victory. As I witnessed with my own eyes as somewhat critical component in the Democrats Palm Beach County recount infrastructure, the Republicans play hard and fast with rules and the law to win at all costs – and when they control the machinery of state government, they can crush the will of the voter in urban Democratic counties. The Democrats and left-leaning voters as well as those living in urban areas all the nation absolutely MUST DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND HERE IN SOUTH FLORIDA OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. 

Republicans learned about the passivity of Democrats during 2000 – while the “blue team” relied on the law and a certain degree of misplaced idealism about the values of the nation (myself included), the “red team” pulled every trick in the book including using the court system, dilatory tactics within the recount room, busing in vigilantes from outside the state and many more disreputable things to effectively steal the Presidency. That passivity taught the Florida GOP that they could manipulate the electoral process when needed and the response from the Democrats would be mostly muted barking and little bite.

In 2006, controlling both the county and state machinery, Republicans were able to take their experience of victory in 2000 to conveniently destroy evidence in Sarasota County and deny Democratic Congressional candidate Christine Jennings anything resembling due process in a razor-close loss to Vern Buchanan. 

Now in 2018, the GOP attempts to deny due process to a sitting US Senator, using control of state government as a way to crush dissent in a way normally reserved for dictators and military governments in third world countries.  Governor Rick Scott and his allies are proving again they are willing to go to any length to achieve the ultimate goal – victory. Democracy isn’t something they respect, as clearly shown by the bizarre run of tweets by Senator Marco Rubio on Thursday.

Much like 2000, the GOP relied on a flawed ballot design in a heavily Democratic urban county and a pre-Election voter purge (which also forces the extensive use of provisional ballots for legitimate voters, delaying the count in several places) to establish an unnatural lead on Election Night that they couched as giving them a legitimate victory.

Once in the lead, like 2000, in 2018 the GOP has used the levers of power as well as the ability to transport and pay vigilantes and thugs to show up in south Florida to intimidate members of the canvassing board. History is repeating itself in 2018 and the Republicans still smarting from the Kavanaugh fight are determined to to pad their US Senate majority by any means necessary. The GOP is also very interested in turning out of office the single most effective advocate this state has had in public office in the last two decades in Senator Bill Nelson. They will go to any length to achieve this dual goal.

With that in mind, despite a clear conflict of interest, Governor Rick Scott has put the full force of state government potentially at great expense to the taxpayer behind an effort to place himself in the US Senate. Instead of recusing himself or resigning from office, Scott has doubled-down attempting to first scream fraud and now crush the integrity of the electoral process in Broward and Palm Beach counties using the courts. These tactics are repeats of 2000 where the GOP’s desire to “run out the clock” on the Democrats led to the filling of several frivolous lawsuits and irrational, time-consuming procedural challenges in front of the canvassing board. 

For those who say that counting is inefficient in Broward County, they are correct. However, the fact remains Scott has had several opportunities to suspend or remove Dr. Snipes from office and has always declined. I’ve written extensively on Snipes incompetence through the years, including several items since the launching of this website in 2013.

Today, Republicans from around the state and nation descended on Fort Lauderdale, a place they’d normally never be seen. They included Congressman Matt Gaetz, born in Broward County but long ago relocated to the Panhandle where his unique brand of right-wing demagoguery and neo-racist rhetoric plays well with voters.

Political hooligans like Gaetz have descended on Broward with the intention of shutting down the electoral process in a county of two million residents and declaring victory for Governor Scott in the US Senate race.

Elected Republicans like Gaetz, Rubio and Scott represent a gangster element in public office that has taken hold of this state since the GOP took control of state government in the late 1990’s. The respectable Republicans of the past are not present in the public discourse any longer, meaning Democrats must meet the challenge of these hoodlum’s head on or risk permanent irrelevance in the political process.

Florida’s one party controlled Democracy is about to become an autocracy. Will the Democrats stand up and push back effectively on this effort? We will know soon enough.