![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/brenda-snipes-getty-640x480.jpg\")
<\/a>Brenda Snipes (Mario Tama\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n
Eric Eggers
\nBreitbart.com<\/p>\n
Three statewide races in Florida are headed to a recount and all depend on results from a county whose supervisor of elections\u00a0has a history<\/a>\u00a0of losing ballots and breaking laws by allowing illegal immigrants and felons to vote, as well as illegally destroying ballots.<\/h3>\nBroward County supervisor of elections Brenda Snipes\u2019 office has\u00a0admitted<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthey don\u2019t know\u201d how many ballots there are still to count.<\/p>\nSnipes\u2019 latest failure to finalize Tuesday\u2019s election returns days after the polls closed is also in violation of\u00a0 Florida law,\u00a0which requires<\/a>\u00a0elections officials to \u201creport all early voting and all tabulated vote-by-mail results to the Department of State within 30 minutes after the polls close. Thereafter, the canvassing board shall report, with the exception of provisional ballot results, updated precinct election results to the department at least every 45 minutes until all results are completely reported.\u201d<\/p>\nThis should alarm anyone hoping for fair and accurate election returns, as Snipes\u2019 history in Broward is checkered with numerous examples of facilitating illegal voting practices.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Dr. Snipes\u00a0admitted in court<\/a>\u00a0that her office had allowed non-citizens and felons to vote and was particularly vulnerable ahead of major elections.<\/p>\nIn 2012, a Broward elections official\u00a0complained<\/a>\u00a0about Snipes tendency to \u201cfind\u201d additional ballots in close elections. Ilene Lieberman, a Broward County Commissioner and Canvassing board member, told the Miami CBS affiliate in 2012, \u201cWhen the canvassing board recessed on Saturday we were basically told there were between 150 and 165 ballots remained to be counted, that they had to double check, that they hadn\u2019t been counted before. And when we came back on Monday the report showed 963 new ballots.\u201d<\/p>\nSnipes also presided over a \u201cphantom voting district<\/a>\u201d of 2000 voters who were using illegal addresses, many of them at a UPS Store, claimed as their places of residence.<\/p>\nRepublican Party officials sued Snipes\u2019 office in 2016 over the illegal counting of 180,000 mail in ballots, she\u00a0admitted<\/a>\u00a0that she\u00a0didn\u2019t know the meaning of the word \u201ccanvassing.\u201d Snipes\u2019 office had been opening ballots illegally, without the legally required participation of other members of the canvasing board.<\/p>\nBut Snipes hasn\u2019t just been accused of malfeasance from Republicans.<\/p>\n
A 2016 Democratic Congressional candidate, Tim Canova, challenged the results of his loss to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in court, only to have Snipes\u2019 office\u00a0\u00a0illegally destroy the ballots<\/a>, preventing additional inspection.<\/p>\nMedical Marijuana backers\u00a0NORML\u00a0sued<\/a>\u00a0Snipes\u00a0office in 2016 after the constitutional initiative to decriminalize marijuana was left off of some Broward County ballots. Lawyer John Morgan, who endorsed Andrew Gillum in this year\u2019s Governor\u2019s race, accused Snipes of doing it intentionally.<\/p>\nMorgain marveled, \u201cBroward\u00a0County was our best county last time. And I don\u2019t believe in accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snipes was originally appointed to her office by Republican Governor Jeb Bush in 2003, after her predecessor\u00a0was removed from office<\/a>\u00a0for gross mismanagement. A former school administrator and principal, Snipes won election in 2004 and has been successfully been re-elected by Broward County voters every four years, most recently in a 2016 primary, where she received 76% of the 122,782 votes cast.<\/p>\nEven that electoral win was not without controversy, however, as Snipes office inadvertently released the results of the elections 30 minutes before polls officially closed.<\/p>\n
According to Florida law<\/a>, \u201cAny supervisor of elections, deputy supervisor of elections, canvassing board member, election board member, or election employee who releases the results of any election prior to the closing of the polls in that county on election day commits a felony of the third degree.\u201d<\/p>\nDespite the Florida Secretary of State\u00a0asking the Broward County Sherriff<\/a>\u00a0and State Attorney for an investigation, like other election-related crimes in Broward County, however, that also went unpunished<\/p>\nEric Eggers is the research director at the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) and the author of the new book\u00a0Fraud: How the Left Plans to Steal the Next Election<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Snipes\u2019 latest failure to finalize Tuesday\u2019s election returns days after the polls closed is also in violation of\u00a0 Florida law,\u00a0which requires<\/a>\u00a0elections officials to \u201creport all early voting and all tabulated vote-by-mail results to the Department of State within 30 minutes after the polls close. Thereafter, the canvassing board shall report, with the exception of provisional ballot results, updated precinct election results to the department at least every 45 minutes until all results are completely reported.\u201d<\/p>\n This should alarm anyone hoping for fair and accurate election returns, as Snipes\u2019 history in Broward is checkered with numerous examples of facilitating illegal voting practices.<\/p>\n In 2017, Dr. Snipes\u00a0admitted in court<\/a>\u00a0that her office had allowed non-citizens and felons to vote and was particularly vulnerable ahead of major elections.<\/p>\n In 2012, a Broward elections official\u00a0complained<\/a>\u00a0about Snipes tendency to \u201cfind\u201d additional ballots in close elections. Ilene Lieberman, a Broward County Commissioner and Canvassing board member, told the Miami CBS affiliate in 2012, \u201cWhen the canvassing board recessed on Saturday we were basically told there were between 150 and 165 ballots remained to be counted, that they had to double check, that they hadn\u2019t been counted before. And when we came back on Monday the report showed 963 new ballots.\u201d<\/p>\n Snipes also presided over a \u201cphantom voting district<\/a>\u201d of 2000 voters who were using illegal addresses, many of them at a UPS Store, claimed as their places of residence.<\/p>\n Republican Party officials sued Snipes\u2019 office in 2016 over the illegal counting of 180,000 mail in ballots, she\u00a0admitted<\/a>\u00a0that she\u00a0didn\u2019t know the meaning of the word \u201ccanvassing.\u201d Snipes\u2019 office had been opening ballots illegally, without the legally required participation of other members of the canvasing board.<\/p>\n But Snipes hasn\u2019t just been accused of malfeasance from Republicans.<\/p>\n A 2016 Democratic Congressional candidate, Tim Canova, challenged the results of his loss to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in court, only to have Snipes\u2019 office\u00a0\u00a0illegally destroy the ballots<\/a>, preventing additional inspection.<\/p>\n Medical Marijuana backers\u00a0NORML\u00a0sued<\/a>\u00a0Snipes\u00a0office in 2016 after the constitutional initiative to decriminalize marijuana was left off of some Broward County ballots. Lawyer John Morgan, who endorsed Andrew Gillum in this year\u2019s Governor\u2019s race, accused Snipes of doing it intentionally.<\/p>\n Morgain marveled, \u201cBroward\u00a0County was our best county last time. And I don\u2019t believe in accidents.\u201d<\/p>\n Snipes was originally appointed to her office by Republican Governor Jeb Bush in 2003, after her predecessor\u00a0was removed from office<\/a>\u00a0for gross mismanagement. A former school administrator and principal, Snipes won election in 2004 and has been successfully been re-elected by Broward County voters every four years, most recently in a 2016 primary, where she received 76% of the 122,782 votes cast.<\/p>\n Even that electoral win was not without controversy, however, as Snipes office inadvertently released the results of the elections 30 minutes before polls officially closed.<\/p>\n According to Florida law<\/a>, \u201cAny supervisor of elections, deputy supervisor of elections, canvassing board member, election board member, or election employee who releases the results of any election prior to the closing of the polls in that county on election day commits a felony of the third degree.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the Florida Secretary of State\u00a0asking the Broward County Sherriff<\/a>\u00a0and State Attorney for an investigation, like other election-related crimes in Broward County, however, that also went unpunished<\/p>\n Eric Eggers is the research director at the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) and the author of the new book\u00a0Fraud: How the Left Plans to Steal the Next Election<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n