Even as midterm races across much of the rest of the United States remained undecided days after Tuesday’s election, the winners in Florida were confirmed before most people went to bed on Election Day.
For Fox News Channel personality Jesse Watters, there is a clear lesson to be learned from the dichotomy between Florida’s electoral system and those of many other states.
“We need to run every election like Florida, don’t we?” he asked during a recent segment of his show. “We found out who won early that night. The vote is secure. We have confidence in it. And we don’t have to wait days to find out who won, which makes people suspicious and it particularly annoys me.”
While a few other GOP-led states — specifically Texas and Ohio — also ran fairly uneventful elections, Watters noted that the Arizona election was “tricky” and noted the widespread problems in its most populous county.
“There were some shenanigans in Maricopa County, or incompetence, we don’t even know,” he said. “Twenty percent of voting stations in that county had machines that ran out of ink.”
Election takeaways:
1. Florida had a wave election. Texas had a very good night. Results elsewhere were mixed. Ron DeSantis and his optimistic brand of bold and unapologetic conservatism is a winning brand and the GOP should take note. (1/8)— Matt Rinaldi (@MattRinaldiTX) November 9, 2022
In the case of Arizona, however, there was a unique factor at play since Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs was also in charge of elections as part of her current role as secretary of state.
An incredulous Watters asserted: “She is in charge of elections, and there was an ink shortage in Maricopa County. The county that decides the race. And they were short ink. The day most Republicans vote. Election Day. Where did you hide the ink, Katie? I’m just kidding. I’m sure it was an honest mistake.”
While Florida election officials were able to provide timely results, the Biden administration had already advised voters that they might need to wait several days to hear the official tally in a number of races across the country.
Florida not only provided arguably the smoothest election in the country, but its results also provided a bright spot for Republicans who did not get the decisive victories that they hoped the midterms would provide.
For his part, Watters said he was not sure whether individual candidates or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) deserved the blame for the lackluster performance of many GOP candidates
“McConnell spent close to $400 million on these Senate candidates,” he said. “I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, but that’s a lot of money. We didn’t pick up a single seat? So, either some of these candidates are garbage or the money is not being well-spent.”
