Brenda Snipes

Incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz ran against Tim Canova, an ally of Bernie Sanders, to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 23rd Congressional District.

A month before the election, Debbie Wasserman Schultz had been ousted from her position as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee over allegations that she and others rigged the Democratic presidential primary process to favor Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

Wasserman Schultz was declared the winner of the Florida primary election.

She went on to win the general election and retain her seat as the Representative for the 23rd District.

Brenda Calhoun Snipes (October 24, 1943 – November 2, 2023) was an American public official who was the Supervisor of Elections for Broward County, Florida.

Snipes was born in Talladega, Alabama, on October 24, 1943.

She majored in modern foreign languages at Talladega College.

She moved to Florida in 1964 with her husband, Walter Snipes Jr.

Snipes graduated with a master's degree in curriculum and instruction for adults from Florida Atlantic University, and was awarded a doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

In 1964, Snipes started her career as a teacher at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Florida, and eventually became principal of Robert Markham Elementary School, also in Pompano Beach.

She was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in 2003.

Snipes was registered as a Democrat.

She retired from teaching in June 2003.

On November 20, 2003, Snipes was appointed supervisor of elections for Broward County by Governor Jeb Bush to take over from her predecessor, Miriam Oliphant, after Oliphant was removed from office for irregularities and fraud in the handling of ballots in the 2000 United States presidential election in that county.

Snipes was re-elected to the position in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016.

In the 2004 general election, thousands of absentee ballots were lost in Broward County.

County election officials said that approximately 58,000 absentee ballots were delivered to the Postal Service to be mailed to voters, but the Post Office claimed to have never received them.

Before the elections, Fair Elections International had requested permission to observe the elections in various counties in the United States, including Broward County.

Close to 1,000 uncounted ballots were discovered a week after the election.

Florida held its Democratic primary elections on August 30, 2016.

After the 2016 general election, Snipes was unsuccessfully sued by a group pushing a medical marijuana ballot referendum after the question was left off of some ballots.

The election results were released 30 minutes before the polls closed.

Florida State Law says “any 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.” The law does not address the issue of intent, one way or the other.

However, Broward County prosecutors declined to process, stating, "There is insufficient evidence that anyone purposely intended to post any elections results prior to the closing of the polls."

When analysis showed that the results were statistically "implausible," documentary filmmaker Lulu Friesdat requested to examine ballots.

Friedat made two requests in November 2016.

She made a third request under Florida's Public Records Act (Government in the Sunshine Act) in March 2017.

In June 2017, Canova and Friesdat made a joint request, but to no avail.

That same month, Canova filed a lawsuit asking the courts to order Snipes to allow him to examine the ballots.

On September 1, 2017, while litigation was ongoing, Snipes signed an order authorizing the destruction of 688 boxes containing the ballots.

Litigation on the matter continued for another two weeks.

On November 6, 2017, the court discovered that the ballots in question had been destroyed two months prior.

The judge ruled that Snipes had illegally destroyed the ballots and that Canova be awarded attorney's fees.

Snipes' attorney said a vendor had made and retained a digital copy of every ballot cast in the race and that the destruction of the ballots was neither intentional nor illegal.

On November 30, 2018, in the aftermath of the controversial 2018 Florida elections, Snipes was removed from office by Governor Rick Scott.

In an official statement by Scott, he stated her suspension was due to her failure to maintain order within her office and complaints of malfeasance.

Snipes held a press conference the following day, in which she stated that she rescinds her resignation and plans to fight her suspension.

Elections were held on November 6, 2018, for the Governor of the State, Florida's U.S. Senator, and all of Florida's U.S. Representatives, as well as other seats.

Republican Ron DeSantis ran against Democrat Andrew Gillum, and was initially declared the winner.

On January 18, 2019, Governor Ron DeSantis voided his predecessor's suspension of Snipes and accepted her initial resignation, effective January 4, 2019.