Tensions are rising in Florida as counties rush to conduct a recount in crucial races for governor and Senate, the effort already marred by mishaps and lawsuits. Donald Trump duly weighed in on Twitter on Monday morning, calling for an end to the legally required recount.

“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged,” the president wrote, repeating Republican claims of voter fraud for which election officials in the state have said there is no evidence. “An honest vote count is no longer possible – ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!”

Florida’s 67 counties face a deadline of Thursday to complete their recounts. Half have already started counting, with the weekend seeing drama in Broward and Palm Beach counties, which both have large populations of Democratic voters and histories of election mishaps. Other counties are set to start recounting on Monday.

Unofficial results showed DeSantis, a Republican former US representative, led Democratic Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41% in the governor’s race. In the Senate race, outgoing Republican governor Rick Scott led incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson by 0.14%. State law requires a machine recount in races where the margin is less than 0.5%. If the machine recount shows a difference of less than 0.25%, a hand recount is ordered.(theguardian)…[+]