Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes resigns to spend more time with family-Sun-Sentinel

11/18/18, “Brenda Snipes submits her resignation as Broward elections supervisor,” Sun-Sentinel, Anthony Man

“Just hours after finishing a tumultuous election recount on Sunday, Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes submitted her resignation.

“It is true. She did send it,” said Burnadette Norris-Weeks, an attorney who works as counsel to the Supervisor of Elections Office.

Evelyn Perez-Verdia, a former office spokeswoman who left several years ago, said Sunday evening she was told by people in the office that the letter was sent “to Tallahassee” earlier in the day.

Norris-Weeks said she saw an early draft of the letter. In the version she saw, she said Snipes, 75, expressed a desire to spend more time with her family.

The exact effective date of the resignation was unclear Sunday evening.

Norris-Weeks said she believes it was effective Jan. 2. Perez-Verdia said she was told the effective date was Jan. 5.

A January resignation would likely put responsibility for appointing a replacement in the hands of Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis, rather than outgoing Gov. Rick Scott.

DeSantis’s swearing in is Jan. 8. Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate, and the swearing-in for that job is Jan. 3. He hasn’t said when he’ll leave office to become a senator, but Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera could be the state’s chief executive for several days in January.

During the just-completed recount of the midterm election, Scott was a fierce critic of Snipes, accusing her of years of incompetence and asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate. Scott never offered any proof of fraud committed by Snipes.”…

[Ed. note: “Never offered any proof of fraud?” Sun-Sentinel certainly knows “proof of fraud” against Snipes. Did Sun-Sentinel ask Rick Scott to “offer” proof of his claim, and did Scott then say he has no proof? If Sun-Sentinel didn’t ask Scott for “proof,” how do they know Scott “never” would’ve “offered” it? In any case, why didn’t Sun-Sentinel offer what it knows to be “proof” in this article for the benefit of its readers?

“Earlier this year [2018] a circuit court judge ruled that Snipes broke federal and state law by too quickly destroying ballots from the August 2016 primaries, even though there was a pending lawsuit seeking access to the ballots.”…11/8/18, “Broward County elections supervisor explains why it’s taking so long to count ballots,” Local10.com, WPLG, Peter Burke, Managing Editor, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. What other important news does Sun-Sentinel keep to itself?]

(continuing); “Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 6 election, in which final vote tallies were submitted by counties to the state on Sunday.

DeSantis, elected governor at the same time, didn’t join in the criticism of the election system-or Snipes-during drawn-out original vote counting or the recount period.

Broward’s vote counting was an outlier among the state’s 67 counties, taking a long time to complete. And there were repeated hiccups during the recount period, including Snipes’s acknowledgment on Saturday that her office couldn’t find 2,040 ballots that had been included in the first vote count but not in the machine recount of state elections.

She said she was sure they were somewhere in her office, probably mixed in with other ballots.

As people grew impatient for finality in three close statewide elections — governor, U.S. Senate and agriculture commissioner — local, state and national attention focused on Snipes.

Besides Scott, she was denounced by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and President Donald Trump.

Democrats said they wanted to ensure all votes were counted, but prominent voices in her party didn’t rise to Snipes’s defense.

And as party insiders in Broward began to sense political blood in the water, they started talking behind the scenes about potential replacements.

During the final days of the recount, Snipes looked exhausted to people who have known her for years. And she foreshadowed an early departure as elections supervisor when she said last week “it is time to move on” but didn’t specify a timetable, saying she wanted to talk to her family.

Snipes was appointed supervisor of elections in 2003 by former Gov. Jeb Bush, after he removed a previous supervisor of elections for incompetence. Bush became one of her critics last week, writing on Twitter it was time for her to go.

She was elected to a full term in 2004, then re-elected in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

A native of Alabama, Snipes came to Broward County in 1964. She was recruited to teach in Broward schools by the legendary African-American educator, Blanche Ely. Snipes began teaching at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach.

She became a principal and school administrator, retiring as an area director, responsible for supervising multiple schools. Snipes has a doctorate in education leadership from Nova Southeastern University. She is referred to by virtually everyone-even her fiercest critics-as “Dr. Snipes.””

“This is a developing story. Check back for updates.”
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Added: Judge ruled that Brenda Snipes broke federal and state laws in 2016:

11/8/18, “Broward County elections supervisor explains why it’s taking so long to count ballots,” Local10.com, WPLG, Peter Burke, Managing Editor, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

“Earlier this year [2018] a circuit court judge ruled that Snipes broke federal and state law by too quickly destroying ballots from the August 2016 primaries, even though there was a pending lawsuit seeking access to the ballots….

As Broward County appears to be at the epicenter of another recount, Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes is on the defensive about how her office has handled Tuesday’s election results. Snipes, who has been at the helm of Broward County elections since 2003, had a testy exchange with Local 10 News investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier during an interview Thursday….
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Comment: While he was Florida Governor Rick Scott knew Brenda Snipes was guilty of destroying ballots needed in a pending law suit but he didn’t take steps to remove her.





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