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No, President Trump, they haven’t only ‘found’ votes for Democrats in Florida

'How come they never find votes for Republicans,' Trump tweeted. In fact, Republicans continue to add thousands of votes, too.
 
President Donald JTrump stops to talk to reporters and members of the media as he walks from the Oval Office on Oct. 26, 2018 in Washington. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford
President Donald JTrump stops to talk to reporters and members of the media as he walks from the Oval Office on Oct. 26, 2018 in Washington. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford
Published Nov. 9, 2018|Updated Nov. 9, 2018

As election results continue to roll in and the results for Senate and governor further narrow, a common misconception is that only Democrats are gaining votes.

The loudest voice for this fallacy is President Donald Trump, who tweeted as much this afternoon.

It's not true. In the Senate race, both Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson have seen their vote totals consistently increase since Tuesday night — by tens of thousands, actually. Ditto in the governor's race between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum.

However, Nelson and Gillum have added more votes than Scott and DeSantis, respectively, which is why the races have narrowed. That's to be expected, since the majority of the votes counted in the past two days or so are in two counties — Palm Beach and Broward — are heavily Democratic.

Tuesday vote totals (11 p.m.) Friday vote totals (2:00 p.m) Total added
Rick Scott 4,044,418 4,095,246 50,828
Bill Nelson 3,986,747 4,080,222 93,475
Difference 57,671 15,024
DeSantis 4,018,470 4,073,254 54,784
Gillum 3,941,093 4,037,105 96,012
Difference 77,377 36,149

As counties tally their provisional ballots, there will certainly be some parts of the state where Scott receives more votes than Nelson. However, those tend to be smaller, rural counties with fewer votes.

Trump's tweet includes another conspiracy: that the votes counted since Tuesday night in South Florida were "found." There is no evidence Broward and Palm Beach counties are counting "found" or fraudulent ballots.

Rather, officials say, they are counting to tally the votes their offices received by election day.

These untruths and conspiracies have gained traction in part because of the lack of transparency and contentious history of the election office under the microscope right now. Click here to read more about the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office, the most controversial in Florida.