A Republican congressman from Florida – where a Senate and a gubernatorial race remain undecided amid charges of elections-law violations in Democratic-majority counties – contends Democrats are "stress-testing the integrity of our election system" to build a "road-map on how to steal the election from Donald Trump in 2020."
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in an interview with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily, noted a judge already has ruled that the Broward County supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes, "violated the Florida Constitution by standing in the way of public access."
A recount is underway as the Senate race between Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and the governor's race between Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis and Democratic Rep. Andrew Gillum hang in the balance.
"The law requires certain reporting and transparency to occur regarding who voted, when they voted, and by what means they voted," said Gaetz.
But Snipes, he said, "has just decided there are certain things she's not going to tell us and wasn't going to tell us."
"What's most concerning is that between election day and now, over 80,000 ballots have just been like spoken into existence," he said. "They weren’t acknowledged to even exist on election night, and then lo and behold, the Democrats needed more votes to close gaps, and more ballots continued to be found."
In contrast, the congressman said, in Republican-majority counties, supervisors of elections follow the law, so "you often don’t get a whole lot of new votes from Republican areas."
Gaetz said he believes the leads DeSantis and Scott have are too big to be overcome through fraud, but he thinks Democrats are testing the waters.
"If the Democrats are able to learn now what techniques work and don’t work, what transparency laws are going to be followed and which ones aren't, then it gives them a road-map on how to steal the election from Donald Trump in 2020," he warned.
"I really think that’s what this is about," Gaetz said.
"The resistance movement has changed from yelling at town halls and yelling in restaurants to now, potentially, trying to steal elections that they can’t win at the ballot box."
Gaetz said that to combat fraud, the "new conservative movement has to take on Trump's sense of boldness."
"If we allow Democrats to continue this behavior, they're not going to get better [or] treat us better or follow the rules more. We’ve got to take the gloves off and fight like they do," he said.
Since Election Day, Democrats have added 17 seats in races in which Republicans had the lead when polling closed.
Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh also believes what's happening in Florida has 2020 implications.
"Do you think what’s going on in Florida is really all about these two races here, the governor race and the Senate race?" he asked his listeners on Tuesday. "I mean, it is, but there’s something much bigger at stake as well, and that’s 2020."
Limbaugh said the Democrats "are trying to set the stage for some kind of election law change or adjustment that they think they're gonna need in 2020."