Florida Officials Say No Concrete Allegation of Voter Fraud as Recounts Continue
*By Christian Smith*
While President Trump and Florida Gov. Rick Scott continue to claim the recount in three tight Florida races is rampant with abuse, state law enforcement authorities say they have no concrete allegation of voter fraud to investigate.
"There is no allegation of fraud, and there's a legal definition that you have to meet in order for it to be voter fraud," Ana Ceballos, politics reporter for the USA Today Network in Florida, told Cheddar.
Scott, who is running for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, has called on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate claims of voter fraud. The state's Attorney General, Republican Pam Bondi, echoed Scott's calls for an investigation, but FDLE has maintained that there are is no evidence to justify that step.
A mandatory machine recount was triggered in Florida's races for U.S. Senate, governor, and agriculture commissioner due to the razor-thin margins in those results.
According to unofficial results from Florida's counties on Saturday, Scott led Nelson in the senate race by about 12,500 votes, or about .15 percent of the total vote.
The race for governor isn't quite as close. Republican Ron DeSantis led Democrat Andrew Gillum by nearly 34,000 votes, or .41 percent.
The deadline for officials to complete the machine-recount is Thursday.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/usa-todays-ana-ceballos-discusses-the-controversies-surrounding-the-florida-recount).
Pfizer has asked the FDA to expand authorization of COVID booster shots for all adults. The agency is expected to grant the request in the coming weeks, allowing vaccinated Americans as young as 18 to get boosted before the holidays. Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell, Regional Clinical Director at Carbon Health, joined Cheddar to discuss.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to block Penguin Random House from acquiring its rival Simon & Schuster. The DOJ hopes this will block the merger, which it says would ultimately hurt authors and consumers nationwide. Barry C. Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, joined Cheddar to explain what the lawsuit signals about the Biden administration's approach to cracking down on antitrust, and why Amazon might be next.
The major markets took a breather Tuesday, with the Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 all finishing lower after notching record closes on Monday. Rhys Williams, Chief Strategist at Spouting Rock Asset Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he provides his biggest takeaways from the day's activity.
The U.S. economy added 531,000 jobs in the month of October, painting a better picture of the economy that analysts had expected. Jared Bernstein, Council of Economic Advisers Member for President Biden joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Election Day 2021 is in the books, and it wasn't a pretty picture for Democrats. Governor Phil Murphy narrowly won re-election in New Jersey and Republican Glenn Youngkin upset Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, with many other disappointing losses for the left. Meridith McGraw, national correspondent for Politico, breaks down the key takeaways from this year as the nation looks ahead to the 2022 midterms.
Markets opened higher to kick off the week as investors continue to digest the better-than-expected jobs report, which showed 531,000 new jobs created in October. Ken Johnson, CFA, Investment Strategy Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to break down his early market insights.
Almost 2 years into the pandemic, supply chain woes continue to wreak havoc on our everyday lives.
From groceries to chip shortages, both consumers and retailers are feeling the strain with prices only climbing as a result. Data intelligence company Morning Consult is out with its U.S. Economic Outlook for November revealing just how much of a threat these hold-ups could pose to the greater economic recovery. John Leer, Chief Economist at Morning Consult joined Cheddar's Opening Bell.
After many years and at least two presidents hoping to overhaul America's infrastructure, congress finally came to an agreement. The House passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill late Friday, receiving thirteen republican votes but failing to earn votes from the six progressive squad members. Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Economics Reporter at Insider joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the economic impact of the bill.
