WHO IS BROWARD COUNTY ELECTIONS SUPERVISOR BRENDA SNIPES (Washington Examiner)
The Broward County election official's career has been controversial from the outset - much like the office itself, whose previous occupant was escorted out of her office and removed from her job in 2003, three years after the notorious 2000 presidential election recount that took 37 days to be resolved by the U.S. supreme court.
Miriam Oliphant, the first black person to be elected to the post, served from January 2001 to November 2003, when [Florida governor Jeb]Bush suspended her for "grave neglect, mismanagement and incompetence" during the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary. She threatened to sue Bush but never did.
In 2018 alone, Snipes, originally from Talladega, Alabama, has had quite a year. A judge ruled in May that she violated state and federal laws by destroying ballots from a 2016 congressional race 10 months earlier than federal elections law requires.
The elections office was required to maintain all ballots in federal elections for 22 months, but Snipes ordered the destruction of those ballots after only 12 months. She claimed negligence, calling it a "mistake," and blamed it on her staff, who she said "have the responsibility of giving me information that's correct." In August, the office was admonished for illegally opening mail-in ballots, which Republicans are claiming as evidence of bias.
Those aren't the only instances of mishaps under Snipes' leadership. There have been consistent problems with long lines, missing ballot referendums, and voter counts since Snipes took the helm in 2003.
Under her watch, a medical marijuana referendum was left off a small number of ballots mailed out to voters, 1,000 uncounted ballots were discovered a week after the election in 2012, and roughly 58,000 mail-in ballots were not delivered to voters in 2004. In the 2016 primary, her office posted election results 30 minutes before polls closed.
Snipes currently faces a lawsuit from Florida Gov. Rick Scott that claims she violated public records laws by not providing the public regular updates about the voting tallies as the recounts continue. Florida state law requires that her office must provide regular tally updates every 45 minutes. Snipes has failed to give those regular updates, arguing that she is doing all she can to make sure that all votes are counted.
It looks like Snipes' days in office could well be numbered: she faces potential suspension or removal from office at the hands of [departing Florida governor] Scott or [Florida governor-elect] Ron DeSantis, the Republican candidate who remains favorite to become governor.
The incoming Florida state Senate President Bill Galvano has already said that if Snipes is suspended, he will have the body investigate and prepare to remove Snipes from office.
