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Rep. Deutch: Rick Scott's Been Manipulating Elections For Eight Years

"It's time he's held accountable and we stop listening to these crazy conspiracy theories and just make sure that we count all the votes," he said.

CNN's John Berman welcomed Rep. Ted Deutch to talk about the Florida recount on New Day.

Berman pointed out that Rick Scott filed three election-related lawsuits, and he contends that Sen. Bill Nelson is committing fraud to win the election. "He says his efforts is to make sure every legal vote is not counted. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. The secretary of state's office says they have seen no evidence of fraud here. I think that is important to note, as these lawsuits are being filed. the secretary of state's own people say they see no evidence of fraud. But let me ask you directly, as you see what happens gone on in Broward County, do you feel as if the count has run smoothly there?"

"What's important, John, you're right, there's no evidence of fraud," Deutch said.

"Here is what there is evidence of. There's evidence of eight years of Rick Scott as governor of Florida trying to manipulate the outcome of elections. He did it by making it harder to register voters. He did it by making the number of voting places -- by reducing the number of early voting locations. He did it by making sure that students couldn't vote in college by trying to purge 200,000 voters from our voting rolls, including a World War II veteran, a constituent of mine. The governor now, John -- this is important. The governor has now actually taken the unheard of approach of trying to use his own state police to impound voting machines before this election is even over. He is the governor of the state of Florida, not an unelected autocrat who can use state levers to try to change elections to his benefit. We need to count the votes. We need to make sure that every valid vote is counted and we need to just follow the law. The governor has been able to get away with spinning conspiracy theories, ignoring his own past of trying to manipulate elections. It's time he's held accountable and we stop listening to these crazy conspiracy theories and just make sure that we count all the votes."

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"And, again, there is no evidence of fraud, according to the secretary of state's office. Broward County seems to have problems that other counties did not have, at a level that other counties did not have. Do you have concerns about the competence of that county's ability to conduct the votes and to conduct this recount?
"There were questions raised -- there have been questions raised about the county and some actions taken by the supervisor of elections over the past few years. supervisor of elections, who was appointed by Jeb Bush when he was governor, it's worth noting. But to address those, Governor Scott sent officials from the secretary of state's office, from his administration to Broward County to ensure that things go forward smoothly. And, to date, they've not reported any problems with the way the count has gone reported any criminal -- any worries of criminal activity. There is no fraud. I just -- it's important for everyone to understand that when Rick Scott and Donald Trump and Marco Rubio go out and start spinning these conspiracy theories and stealing elections and changing the outcome of elections, not only are they embarrassing themselves, they're undermining the public's faith in our democracy. They ought to know better. They need to stop it. We need to let this recount go forward, as required under state law."

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