I was on the ground as an observer in Broward County during the Florida recount involving Governor Rick Scott and Senator Bill Nelson. Washington Democrats, Republicans, and the media are all confused regarding what really happen in Broward in the past few weeks.

Democrats want to say that any vote fraud or miscounting in Broward was caused by their inefficiency, not bad intent. Yet, there can be no question the final vote total stole votes from Rick Scott.

For example, with observers from all sides watching the recount, there were over 2,000 fewer alleged votes that were not counted in the machine recount but were in the original count submitted to the state. Broward officials could not account for the discrepancy, leaving Broward voters to wonder whether ballots were lost, double counted the first time, or otherwise improperly processed at some point, particularly before the recount when many were observing the process.

Both Senate candidates lost votes in the total after the recount but Nelson lost more than Scott. The recount was finished before the Thursday 3:00 p.m. deadline, but Broward officials intentionally waited until after 3:00 pm to submit their numbers. The failure to meet this deadline means the original numbers count instead, effectively wiping out 779 votes of Scott’s margin. Democrat Floridian operatives will privately admit that those totals would have been submitted on time if they had benefited Nelson.

The New York Times is also being disingenuous when it promotes a theory that a ballot design flaw caused people to be disenfranchised.   A number of Broward voters skipped the Senate race and “under voted” for ideological reasons. All Floridians know Broward is a very progressive county with progressive voters. These voters loved the 39-year-old gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, a progressive champion. In contrast, they considered the 76-year-old Bill Nelson an old school Southern Democrat who was friends with people like Trump Attorney General and former Senator Jeff Sessions.

This under vote was why it was so important that Governor Scott’s campaign fought for a court order to guard the ballots, as the ballots could have easily been altered to sloppily add votes while the liberal media provided a cover story for the under vote being missed the first time.

Another thing that outsiders don’t understand is how many illegal votes were counted in Broward that arrived at the department of elections after 7:00 PM on Election Day. Over 70,000 votes were counted after midnight on Tuesday. Not all were mail-in ballots; there were still some precinct vote totals that miraculously arrived two days late. That was not the only issue, as a substantial number were late mail-in ballots that should not have been counted under existing Florida regulations which say ballots must arrive by Election Day.   As Senator Marco Rubio pointed out: “I have no problem with a recount.  It’s the law. I have a problem with law breaking #BrowardElections & #PalmBeachElections. And a problem with lawyers trying to steal an election by looking for a judge who will ignore the law.”

Regardless of whether you think election officials such as Broward County’s Brenda Snipes are incompetent or stealing votes, all sides should agree on the importance of observers for a more open, fair, and honest election.