Her final indignity: Florida Gov. Rick Scott SUSPENDS outgoing elections supervisor Brenda Snipes following her disastrous handling of votes, including last month’s midterms
- Governor Scott on Friday suspended county elections supervisor Brenda Snipes
- Snipes came under fire for badly bungling 2018 election in Broward County
- Missed recount deadline by two minutes and misplaced thousands of ballots
- Blamed racism when she came under criticism as either corrupt or incompetent
- Snipes earlier announced she’d resign January but suspension is immediate
- Enterprise Florida President and CEO Peter Antonacci will replace Snipes
An embattled county elections official at the center of Florida’s recount has been suspended.
Governor Rick Scott issued an executive order Friday immediately suspending Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes from office for misfeasance, incompetence and neglect of duty.
Snipes, 75, has been the top elections official in the south Florida county since 2003 when then-Governor Jeb Bush appointed her.
She came under withering criticism for her handling of this year’s elections, as well as its legally required recount in close races for governor and U.S. Senate.
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes (above earlier this month) was suspended from office on Friday for misfeasance, incompetence and neglect of duty
Governor Rick Scott (above) won the election to the US Senate after a painful and protracted recount process. On Friday he suspended controversial election supervisor Brenda Snipes
Snipes’ career 15-year career as elections supervisor has been dogged by repeated accusations of incompetence, bias, legal disputes and botched elections.
She came under fire again this year after the county missed the deadline – by two minutes – in reporting results in the contested Senate race, which Scott ended up winning.
Broward struggled with its infamy again when officials revealed on Saturday that 2,040 ballots had been either misplaced, misfiled or mixed in with another stack.
President Donald Trump even weighed in on the controversy in a sarcastic tweet calling Snipes ‘a fine, very honorable and highly respected voting tactician!’
Florida’s Republican party erected this mocking protest outside of the Broward election office
Snipes, who is black, said afterward racism was ‘probably’ a factor in the backlash against her.
When asked specifically if she believed her heritage could be playing a part in the hostile response she declined to elaborate but told the Guardian, ‘Probably. Probably’.
Snipes previously indicated she planned to step down in January. Scott said in a statement that taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay an official who has already announced her resignation.
Scott appointed Enterprise Florida President and CEO Peter Antonacci to replace Snipes. Voters will have a chance to elect a new supervisor in 2020.