Congressman Gaetz Calls For Rick Scott To SUSPEND Brenda Snipes

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Nov 9, 2018

Matt Gaetz has called on Rick Scott, the governor of Florida and presumably the Senator-elect, to suspend the Broward County election supervisor Brenda Snipes.

The race is on in Broward County to find enough votes to spark recounts that could give gubernatorial loser Andrew Gillum and senatorial loser Bill Nelson a fighting chance. Rick Scott’s campaign is suing Snipes’ office, as well as the election supervisor in Palm Beach County, where vote-finding is also taking place.

Fortunately for Republicans, a state judge ruled that the GOP must have access to see any new votes that could be found, so that Democrats are not unilaterally finding votes in the dark. This is good news for the Republicans fighting off the Democrat vote-finding power play.

Gaetz is clear that he wants Snipes suspended.

Fox News reported:

“Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes is at the center of the explosive Florida ballot-counting battle, with the state’s Senate and gubernatorial elections on the line — but it’s hardly her first voting controversy.

“She has had a horrible history … and all of a sudden they’re finding votes out of nowhere,” President Trump, referring to Snipes, told reporters Friday.

Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes is at the center of the explosive Florida ballot-counting battle, with the state’s Senate and gubernatorial elections on the line — but it’s hardly her first voting controversy.

“She has had a horrible history … and all of a sudden they’re finding votes out of nowhere,” President Trump, referring to Snipes, told reporters Friday.

Outgoing Florida Gov. Rick Scott, the GOP Senate nominee locked in a tight and bitter battle for the lead against incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, accused Democrats of conducting a coordinated effort to “steal” elections in a campaign of possibly “rampant fraud,” in a lawsuit Thursday.

Razor-thin margins in Florida’s bitter Senate and gubernatorial races are raising the specter of possible recounts, potentially prolonging two of the most closely watched contests of the nation’s midterm elections. A recount is mandatory if the winning candidate’s margin is less than 0.5 percentage points when the first unofficial count is verified Saturday by Florida’s secretary of state, according to state law.

In an emergency complaint, Scott accused Snipes of being “unwilling to disclose records revealing how many electors voted, how many ballots have been canvassed and how many ballots remain to be canvassed,” and charged that the uncertainty “raises substantial concerns about the validity of the election process.”

More than 50 percent of voters in the county are registered Democrats, making it the largest Democratic county in Florida, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Snipes said she didn’t know how many ballots remain to be counted, but all were being processed. She also did not know how many provisional, military and mismarked ballots need to be counted. Her department’s website said ballots cast on Election Day have been counted.

Snipes, who has held her office since 2003, is no stranger to controversy. Earlier this year, Scott’s administration said it was monitoring her office after a judge ruled in May the county broke federal law by destroying ballots in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s 2016 Democratic primary race against Tim Canova, Politico reported.

Snipes claimed the issue had been “blown out of proportion.'”