Broward Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes announced Saturday she will fight her suspension by the governor, and rescinded her letter of resignation that preceded it.
Gov. Rick Scott suspended Snipes late Friday afternoon, citing “widespread issues with voting” in Broward County.
Broward elections office attorney Burnadette Norris Weeks said the governor is holding Snipes to a different standard than other elections supervisors in Florida, “as if there can never be a mistake made.” She alleged the suspension was mean-spirited, an attempt to take Snipes’ pension, and based on false or unfair allegations. She also suggested the Republican governor was motivated by politics, removing the Democratic supervisor in a heavily Democratic county.
“We believe it’s a malicious action that should not have happened,” she said, adding later that “all of the voters of Broward County should be concerned.”
The governor Friday replaced Snipes with Republican Peter Antonacci, president and CEO of the state’s business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida.
Antonacci has history with Broward elections: He prosecuted the 2004 Senate hearings against Broward’s prior elections supervisor, Miriam Oliphant. Oliphant was removed by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, also for alleged incompetence. Antonacci represented the governor’s office.
“We’ve got to do better than this,” former Broward Commissioner Sylvia Poitier said after the news conference. “The world has got to know what happened. It’s not fair.”
After the November election, which brought unflattering national attention to her operation, Snipes submitted a letter of resignation that was to take effect Jan. 4, a date that likely would have kept the current governor from selecting her replacement. Scott was elected to the U.S. Senate and will be sworn in on Jan. 3.
Scott, in his announcement of the suspension Friday, said “taxpayers should no longer be burdened by paying a salary for a supervisor of elections who has already announced resignation.” He said Antonacci would “be solely focused on running free and fair elections, will not be running for election and will bring order and integrity back to this office.”
He suspended Snipes for misfeasance, incompetence and neglect of duty.
In a room filled with black pastors, elected officials, community leaders and her fellow “Deltas” sorority sisters in their trademark red clothing, Snipes thanked her supporters Saturday and asked everyone to keep an open mind.
“We’ve made lots of achievements, accomplishments and have always done our work in an air of quality and integrity,” Snipes said.
Snipes was set to receive $71,000 a year pension from her time in the elections office. The job itself paid $178,865 annually. But the suspension could cost Snipes that pension, Norris Weeks said. She said Snipes was unable to get answers to her questions about the pension but intends to fight for it.
By rescinding her resignation, she’s stating she intends to remain in office until her term ends in November 2020.
Broward Commissioner Dale Holness said employees of the elections office are worried about their jobs and are not sure what might happen next.
“The employees are anxious,” he said. “They have families to take care of.”
Snipes had the eyes of the nation on her elections operation in November, as major races, including Scott’s Senate race, potentially hung on Broward’s results. There was no tidy end to vote counting on election night. Instead, because of mail-in ballots and hiccups in the office, the count and recounts dragged on.
Norris Weeks said the heavy voting by mail bogged down tabulation, and said Scott hit the office with “ridiculous” and “frivolous,” time-consuming records requests and lawsuits.
“We will be fighting this to the very end,” she said.
