NRSC Chair Rick Scott Earns “Four Pinocchios” For Continuing to Repeat False “Zombie Claim” About Voter Fraud

Washington Post Fact Checker Finds “A Bunch Of Nothing” In Support Of Scott’s “Flimsy and Inflammatory Charges”

Senator Rick Scott’s “rocky start” as NRSC Chair keeps getting worse: a new Washington Post fact check today slammed Scott for repeatedly pushing a “zombie claim” about voter fraud in his 2018 Senate race to try to explain his indefensible January 6th vote to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Post gave Scott “Four Pinocchios” for repeatedly “alleging large-scale violations” despite never having “coughed up the proof” — and the Post’s own research team found “a bunch of nothing in support of his claim.”

Scott’s “flimsy and inflammatory charges” got a boost from former President Donald Trump, who used Scott’s false accusations to allege “fraud in this Florida race (with no evidence) two years before alleging fraud in the presidential race (again with no evidence).” Scott himself has echoed Trump’s dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that fueled the recent deadly attempted insurrection at the Capitol. When asked whether he regretted his vote to throw out Pennsylvania’s results, Scott doubled down and inaccurately tried to compare the 2020 presidential election to his 2018 race.

Republicans are worried that Scott’s embrace of dangerous voting fraud conspiracy theories could complicate “the party’s prospects of retaking the Senate in the next election.” As a result, Scott is already a major liability for a divided GOP still struggling to recuperate from losing the Senate majority.

Washington Post Fact Checker: Rick Scott’s zombie claim about voter fraud in 2018
By Salvador Rizzo
February 2, 2021

Key Points:

• While the outcome of the race was still uncertain and Nelson was surging in the vote count, Scott gave a televised statement in November 2018 blasting Democratic election officials and alleging “there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward counties.”

• His accusations got a prominent booster in President Donald Trump, who began alleging fraud in this Florida race (with no evidence) two years before alleging fraud in the presidential race (again with no evidence).

• Nothing ever came of Scott’s allegations. He continues to repeat them. What gives?

• When asked about the 2020 presidential race and Trump’s fraud allegations in recent months, Scott has compared them to his own accusations. Florida officials, he says, “found” 95,000 ballots after election night and violated the law in 2018.

• Scott has not offered evidence of this sweeping claim.

• Scott’s office did not reply to our questions.

• Regarding other allegations, an FDLE representative told us the department “conducted a few investigations following the 2018 Midterm elections. … No additional information has been reported to FDLE since we completed our cases.”

• The representative sent us summaries of three probes, all of which ended without finding widespread voter fraud.

• Scott’s claim boils down to 95,000 votes allegedly “found” after election night in violation of state law. So far, we have a bunch of nothing in support of his claim.

• This is a Four Pinocchio claim. Scott for years has been alleging large-scale violations in Florida’s 2018 election but has never coughed up the proof.

• He says 95,000 votes were found illegally after the polls closed in 2018. But the votes were always there and officials counted them before the legal deadline. Florida officials — at agencies led by Scott appointees — investigated his claims while he was governor and produced no evidence to support his flimsy and inflammatory charges.

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