Republican Senator Proposes Bill That Would Make It Illegal to Count Votes

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On Thursday, Florida Sen. Rick Scott proposed a bill that would change election laws with less than six weeks to go until November’s election, causing complete mayhem and ensuring that untold numbers of otherwise valid votes would not be counted. Scott’s proposal is simple and entirely unworkable. His Help America Vote Act of 2020 would require that mail-in ballots be counted within 24 hours of when voting closes on Election Day. Scott’s proposed legislation would also prevent mail-in ballots received prior to Election Day from being processed and counted until the morning of Nov. 3, contradicting state election statutes across the country including one that he signed when he was governor of Florida. Basically, the bill would move back the date by which votes can start to be counted and move up the date by which the count must end. This would limit the count to a single less than 48 hour window, shortening the count in some cases by weeks.