Florida’s top elections official on Wednesday rejected the idea of hand-counting all vote-by-mail ballots cast in the state — a blow to election skeptics in the Republican Party’s MAGA base who don’t trust the way votes are counted.

Hand-counting millions of mail ballots would be unwieldy and create problems, Secretary of State Cord Byrd told state Rep. Meg Weinberger, a Palm Beach County Republican who raised the issue.

Byrd said hand-counting would be less accurate than the electronic equipment Florida election supervisors use for tabulation. And, he said it would delay election results.

At the same legislative hearing at which Byrd knocked down the notion of hand-counting ballots, he suggested he was readying a proposal that would provide something the MAGA movement wants.

He didn’t

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