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Florida: Election Supervisor 'Broward Brenda' Is Stepping down Following Missteps That Sullied State's Recounts

Benjamin Gill : Nov 19, 2018
CBN News

After weeks of recount problems and delays in Florida, Democratic candidates in the top two races finally admitted defeat this weekend. Sen. Bill Nelson (D) finally conceded to Rick Scott (R) in the state's US Senate race, and Andrew Gillum (D) conceded to Ron DeSantis (R) in the race for governor.

[CBN News] The Democrat official at the center of the controversial vote recount in Broward County, Florida is resigning. (Photo: Brenda Snipes, Broward Co. election official/via CBN News)

Republicans had raised questions about vote irregularities, pointing out problems with the way several South Florida election officials were counting the ballots.

At the heart of the controversy was Broward County Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes who was facing removal from office after a number of missteps before and during the election.

Now the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports Snipes has presented a resignation letter and plans to step down in January.

On Fox News, Florida's newly elected governor Ron DeSantis (R) said there was no way he would have allowed her to stay on at her post anyway.

Snipes has had a history of election mismanagement over the years. In this latest election, she failed to accurately tally the number of votes cast in the race, and a judge had to order her to report the actual number of all ballots that had been cast. The judge ruled that Snipes violated Florida public-records laws.

In another instance, a ballot box was found in a rental car after the elections. And Snipes also admitted to intermingling questionable recount ballots with regular ballots.

Near the end of the recount phase, Snipes announced 2,040 ballots had been "misfiled." But her good news was that "the ballots are in the building," Snipes told members of the canvassing board carrying out the hand recount.