Judge denies Nelson’s request to extend recount deadline in Palm Beach

A federal judge in Tallahassee has denied a request by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s campaign to extend the deadline for the machine and hand recounts in his election contest against Republican Rick Scott.

The decision came from federal  Judge Mark Walker from the Northern District of Florida.

Nelson trails Scott in the race for U.S. Senate by 12,562 votes, or 0.15%, which if that margin remains, would push the election into a hand recount.

The only county that has said it will not be able to make the machine or hand recount deadlines is Palm Beach County. The deadline for machine recount is 3 p.m. today, the deadline for hand recounts is noon Sunday.

Susan Bucher, the Supervisor of Elections with Palm Beach County, said earlier on Thursday that her office would not be able to meet the 3 p.m. deadline.

In his ruling, Walker expressed exasperation with Palm Beach County, writing that “there is a complete dearth of evidence before this Court concerning the status, progress, or expected completion of the ordered recounts in Palm Beach County.”

“This Court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile,” he wrote. “It cannot do so on this record. This Court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark.”