When it comes to voting methods, there are just too many options on the menu these days, says Bill O’Reilly.
The former Fox host told Newsmax TV on Tuesday that a variety of ways to cast ballots is to blame for the chaos in Florida, where mail-in ballots have called election night results into question and prompted an intense re-count battle.
O’Reilly: too many voting methods
“With all of this early voting and mail-in voting and all of this business, it just seems that the process has to be reorganized,” O’Reilly said. “It just sucks the life out of the whole electorate.”
Republican candidates were declared the winners of the state’s races for Senate and governor on election night, but their leads were gradually wiped in the following days as absentee and mail-in ballots were counted up. The turn-around has sparked an intense re-count fight as Republicans and Democrats trade accusations of foul play and lawsuits to contest the vote tally.
While the Democrats insist there is nothing unusual going on, Republicans have accused them of voter fraud over the slow trickle of Democratic votes. Broward and Palm Beach counties have come under particular scrutiny as votes in the Democratic strongholds have up-ended Republicans’ provisional victories.
Republicans have accused local election officials of overseeing an election heist, while the Democrats have in turn claimed that the Republicans are spreading conspiracy theories.
O’Reilly said that the election law-fare and re-count brawl in Florida was no way to conduct an election and that the current system is demoralizing to voters’ faith in democracy.
“If your candidate wins, and then all of a sudden there’s court challenges and this and that, you’re demoralized. When is it gonna end? So, I think the states themselves have to get non-partisan people in charge of each county and that the federal government has to oversee federal votes.”
Mail-in ballots slowing counts
Over the weekend, three state-wide races began a re-count with a Thursday deadline. O’Reilly told Newsmax TV on Monday that the FBI should be sent in to supervise the recount, echoing calls from other Republicans to secure voting machines.
Alternative voting methods have already caused controversy in Florida after it was revealed that illegal votes were cast by e-mail and fax in heavily Republican Bay county. Voting by e-mail is not allowed in the state, although fax votes from overseas Floridians are acceptable.
Mail-in ballots have become a particular point of contention in the rhetoric and lawsuits surrounding close races in Arizona and Florida, reflecting their significance in deciding razor-thin contests. In Florida, Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson filed a lawsuit to count thousands of mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
Things were on the other foot in Arizona, where Republican groups filed a law-suit over mail-in ballots that were verified after Election Day. While less dramatic than the Florida recount, a similarly close Senate race was finally called for Democrat Kyrsten Sinema on Monday after mail-in ballots finally swung the race in her direction, denying the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake to opponent Rep. Martha McSally (R).
O’Reilly admitted that he would probably call for a recount if he was losing by a race by a razor-thin margin, but “there comes a point where the recounts have to stop.”
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