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Who is Rick Scott? Here's why his bill wants states to count all ballots within 24 hours on Election Day

Scott said that the VOTER Act will create uniform standards for voting-by-mail, provide protections against fraud and make sure there's a timely federal election result

Senator Rick Scott introduced a bill on September 24 that would require states to count and report all ballots within 24 hours after polls close on Election Day. As reported by ABC Action news, the Verifiable, Orderly, & Timely Election Results (VOTER) Act is an attempt to bring in uniform standards for vote-by-mail systems across the country and “ensure the timely and efficient counting of ballots, with important safeguards to prevent fraud".

In a statement on his website, Scott said, "Voting is fundamental to our democracy and it is a sacred right that we must protect and cherish. I always say we need 100% participation and 0% fraud in our elections." He continued, "Florida has absentee voting and it works well. But the standards for mail-in voting vary widely across the country, causing confusion and a distrust in the system. We need standards nationwide to ensure voters decide the outcomes of elections – not the courts. We can’t wait weeks or months to find out the results of this election or any election in our future – a scenario made all the more likely by the Democrats’ push to change laws late in the game and eliminate standards that protect against fraud." Scott added, "The VOTER Act will create uniform standards for voting-by-mail, provide important protections against fraud, and make sure we have a timely federal election result. We need to pass this bill now to ensure a smooth and secure election."

According to the website, these are some of the measures proposed by the Voter Act:
— Establishes uniform standards for mail-in voting in federal elections
— Defines deadlines to request and return vote-by-mail ballots
— Mail-in ballots must be requested at least 21 days before a federal election
— Mail-in ballots must be returned and received by the time polls close on Election Day
— Promotes the timely reporting of election results
— Requires voting precincts to report the total number of in-person and mail-in ballots received one hour after polls close to identify the total universe of votes to be counted in the election
— Requires all eligible ballots to be counted and reported within 24 hours after polls close on Election Day to promote certainty in the outcome of a federal election

As reported by ABC Action News, Dustin Chase, Deputy Supervisor of Elections in Pinellas County said, “Those structural changes could happen, but they can’t happen overnight. And in terms of changes for this general election, that time period has already expired.” He also added, “If you shift that back to 21 days, so now they have less time to get mail ballot requests on file, that creates a situation where some people might not be able to vote by mail."

Who is Rick Scott?

He is a member of the Republican Party and was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. He graduated from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

In 1987, he co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation. It later merged with another corporation to form Columbia/HCA, which eventually became one the largest private for-profit health care company in the United States. In 1997, he had to resign from his post as chief executive of Columbia/HCA. During his tenure as chief executive, the company had allegedly defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs. The Department of Justice had fined the company $1.7B, which at the time was the largest health care fraud settlement. Scott was not charged with a crime.

He ran for governor of Florida in 2010 and defeated Bill McCollum in a strongly contested Republican primary election, and then defeated Democratic nominee Alex Sink in the general election by a narrow margin. In 2014, he was re-elected, defeating former governor Charlie Crist. He ran for the United States Senate in 2018. He won the 2018 Florida Senate election, defeating Democratic candidate Bill Nelson. The initial election results were close and had caused a mandatory recount. The recount showed that Scott had won by 10,033 votes; Nelson then conceded the race.

Twitter reacts to Scott's proposal

According to Slate, this would prevent mail-in ballots received prior to Election Day from being processed and counted until the morning of November 3, contradicting state election statutes across the country including one that he signed when he was governor of Florida. Basically, the bill moves back the date by which votes can be counted and moves up the date by which counting must end. This limits the count to a single less-than-48-hour window, reducing the time in some cases by weeks. For instance, in Florida, votes can start to be counted up to 22 days before Election Day. But under Scott's law, those votes would all have to begin to be counted on Election Day itself.

Twitter was quick to react to the Voter Act. One user said, "Rick Scott, why are you republicans and Trump so intent on trying to cheat to steal the election by not having all of the votes counted?" Another commented, "In case you took all the GOP Senators Respectable Statements about a fair election at face value, here’s Rick Scott proposing a new fed law massively limiting the amount of time states have to count ballots, dramatically reducing the number of absentees that would count." One alleged, "Let's be clear, Rick Scott is trying to protect a fascist take over of the country, not your right to vote freely and fairly." A user stated, "Rick Scott has failed the residents of Florida."

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