About Florida’s Northern District Court hearings with Judge Mark E. Walker...Here’s what happened
Bottom Line: After about five hours of hearings on Wednesday afternoon/evening with legal teams representing the state and Senator Bill Nelson – nothing has changed and as of now today’s 3pm deadline for the machine ordered recounts stands. Judge Mark Walker decided to combine several outstanding lawsuits into consideration simultaneously. An Obama appointee in 2012, who’s twice ruled against the Scott administration in previous legal matters, judge Walker had been viewed as a potential ally for team Nelson. As of now that hasn’t materialized. He repeatedly pushed back on Nelson’s team for attempting to get votes counted that hadn’t been legally qualified based on existing state guidelines and the determining factors of canvassing boards. For example, team Nelson has been attempting to have mail-in votes without valid signatures counted. The most stinging quote of the hearing came during that rebuke to team Nelson when judge Walker said:
“Why in the world would I say, Count them all, without regard for whether they are valid votes? My grandfather would say that’s roughly akin to hunting squirrel with a bazooka.”
Doesn’t sound like Nelson’s team is likely to get what they’re looking for in that case. So where are we now? Walker has this to say...
“Apparently, I’m supposed to re-evaluate the entire election code of the state of Florida, one piece at a time. I’ve got it. This just seems like a really bad way to do this.”
And that’s where we stand.