Florida Recount Next? Voters Sue To Overturn Election Results, Claim Hillary Clinton Won Florida — Not Donald Trump

Is a Florida recount next on the roster? A lawsuit has been filed by three Florida voters who are adamant Hillary Clinton won their state in the presidential election — not Donald Trump.

MSN reports that the voters suing to overturn the presidential election results are central Florida residents who live in Osceola and Volusia counties. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Leon Circuit Court.

The plaintiffs want a recount in Florida because they claim results were inaccurate due to hacking, malfunctioning voting machines, and other issues. According to the legal documents, they want a hand recount of each paper ballot in the Sunshine State and demand Donald Trump, Gov. Rick Scott, and the 29 Republican presidential electors from the state pay all of the fees.

Attorneys for the three voters requesting the Florida recount aren’t sure anything can be done since the Electoral College meets on December 19. Clint Curtis, an attorney from Orlando representing the plaintiffs, said the defendants may not respond in time before the meeting.

“They can ignore it entirely,” Curtis said.

Lawsuit calls for Florida recount, cites hacking and malfunctioning voting machines https://t.co/YaWFKFSlYE

— Orlando Weekly (@OrlandoWeekly) December 6, 2016

The attorney shared that he was swamped with reports from across the state with problems on Election Day that involved voters being turned away at the polls and being informed that they’d already voted. However, officials with the Florida Division of Elections reported only a few “minor issues” on Election Day.

Results on Election Day had Trump with over 4.6 million votes in Florida, which was more than 112,000 votes over Clinton.

Curtis hopes Trump will support the Florida recount effort since his allegations of a rigged system have been vociferous.

“He’s mentioned he wants to fix the rigged system,” he said. “This will give the opportunity to do that. If it were a normal politician, I’d say our chances are very slim. But it’s not a normal politician — it’s Donald Trump.”

In the aftermath of the 2016 election, several movements for ballot recounts have emerged, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein leading the way in raising money for such actions. She raised millions of dollars to have voter recounts carried out in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The strong initiative for recounts has put doubt in the minds of some Americans over how dependable the voting process really is.

The Florida recount lawsuit is considered a long shot for the plaintiffs, according to reports. The Miami New Times reports that Trump “won by roughly 1.5 percent, a margin high enough to avoid the state’s automatic-recount provisions.” It reports that on Friday, a “liberal-leaning” group known as Protect Our Elections based out of Washington, D.C., says that more than 160,000 votes in Florida weren’t counted in the election. They consider that significant since Trump beat Clinton by 112,911 votes.

Florida accounts for 29 Electoral College votes. Protect Our Elections is contesting the results after raising over $65,000 online and filing legal documents just 12 minutes before the election-lawsuit deadline — 11:48 p.m. on December 2.

According to the report, the group is citing slim evidence that vote totals don’t include “tens of thousands” of legal votes left out of the count because of alleged malfunctions with voting machines, but include “tens of thousands of illegal votes that were improperly counted.”

The Florida recount lawsuit by made by the group also claims that a minimum of 25,000 mail-in ballots was requested, but never received in Broward County. It argues that Florida’s voting machines may have been hacked and that the state declared an “abnormally high invalid vote rate.”

Non-profit Group #ProtectOurElections Sues to Demand Florida Election Recount https://t.co/QnZEf9kzeA via @miaminewtimes #floridarecount

— Hillary Clinton (@VoteHillary2016) December 6, 2016

“The number of uncounted votes, together with the illegal votes and the lack of integrity of the voting machines, is more than sufficient to call in doubt the results of the election,” the suit reads.

Additionally, the group claims that taking into consideration the number of uncounted votes, illegal votes, and questionable function of voting machines “is more than sufficient to call in doubt the results of the election.”

Protect Our Elections continues that a Florida recount of votes should be in order due to predictions that Hillary Clinton was to win Florida, making Trump’s win suspicious, thereby warranting a recount.

Another aspect the group scrutinizes is the 233 percent increase in the number of uncounted ballots, suggesting there’s evidence something out of the ordinary occurred, mostly having to do with the machines.

“Excessively high invalid vote rates are extremely suspicious, and generally are considered an indication of possible problems such as machine malfunctions or tampering,” the suit alleges.

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]