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Broward Elections Supervisor Blames Racism For Recount Debacle
thefederalistpapers.org ^ | November 18, 2018 | Carmine Sabia

Posted on 11/18/2018 8:07:38 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com

When on is attempting to get themselves out of a jam they often look for excuses or other things or people to blame things on.

When one is a progressive they run to the racism, sexism or homophobia cards.

That is what Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes has done. Now that her incompetence has been discovered, and more than 2,000 ballots have been lost, she is blaming racism for it, The Guardian reported.

A top elections official in Florida who endured national humiliation after missing a midterms recount deadline by two minutes has told the Guardian that racism is "probably" a factor in the backlash against her.

Brenda Snipes, elections supervisor of Broward county, was condemned by Republicans and Democrats after failing to submit tallies in the US Senate race between Rick Scott and Bill Nelson on schedule.

On Friday, with a hand count of votes under way, about two dozen protesters continued their vigil in a car park outside Snipes’s headquarters. Some claimed without evidence that she had missed the deadline deliberately because the results she oversaw boosted Scott's overall lead.

In a short interview, Snipes, 75, said: "You know, the protesters have been claiming stuff all week so whatever they're doing, that's what they’re doing. That's what they feel like they need to do."

Asked if she felt it was racially motivated, the supervisor replied: "Probably. Probably." She declined to elaborate.

Snipes had promised "100%" in a CNN interview earlier this week that Broward county, a Democratic stronghold, would complete its machine recount on time. It appeared to do so with just under 15 minutes to spare before Thursday's 3pm deadline. The recount showed Scott, currently the Republican governor of Florida, down 606 votes from the first count and Nelson down 1,385 – a net gain for Scott of 779 votes.

But mysteriously, Snipes only sent the results to the Florida secretary of state at 3.02pm on Thursday, rendering the entire exercise a waste of time and money. The state reverted to the county's first tallies instead. Two other counties in Florida also blew past the deadline.

On Friday Snipes offered little by way of explanation. "We had a lot of information to input and we ran two minutes over and the deadline was three o'clock," she told the Guardian. "I don't think anything was a glitch; it's just a lot of information to be input."

Outside the building, where Republican demonstrators included two "Bikers for Trump", some claimed without evidence that Snipes had deliberately missed the deadline. Jody Steinlauf, 60, an estate agent, said: "It was intentional. They found 760 votes in favour of us. She knew if she waited past the deadline, they wouldn't be counted.

"You can't trust anything she does. They were deliberately wasting taxpayers' money. Look what they're doing with the Mueller investigation. They don't know how to lose. They can't lose graciously. They have to fight us."

Nicholas Ciacelli, 64, who owns a flag company, said: "If you look up the word 'incompetence' in the dictionary, it's Brenda Snipes's photograph. Everyone knows she's incompetent but somehow she keeps her job."

A former schools administrator, Snipes was appointed in 2003 by Jeb Bush, then the Republican governor of Florida, but in the wake of the midterms debacle he has called for her removal. He is not alone.

Rick Hasen, a law and political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, and expert in election law, tweeted on Thursday: "If there is a worse election administrator in the entire country than Brenda Snipes, I'm not aware of that person."

Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and consultant, posted in response: "I'm going to say this is a long time Florida and national political operative. She's the worst anywhere. My Democratic friends hate her with the same robust vigor as do my Republican friends."

Following the state-wide machine recount on Thursday, Scott had a lead of 12,603 votes out of 8 million cast, equivalent to 0.15% – within the threshold of 0.25% that triggers a hand recount according to state law.

This does not review all votes. It involves about 93,000 ballots that were not recorded by voting machines because voters cast either two votes for one race, which is called an overvote, or appeared to choose no candidate, which is an undervote. The idea is to figure out a voter's intent.

Broward county had the most overvotes and undervotes of any Florida county: almost 31,000. On Friday officials sat at a big U-shaped table inside a warehouse and reviewed contentious votes one by one, projecting them on to a screen. Snipes could be seen observing the process.

She has been criticized for designing ballot papers so that the Senate race was tucked away in one corner that many voters might have missed.

Nate Silver, editor-in-chief of the FiveThirtyEight website, tweeted: "Bad ballot design led to a lot of undervotes for Bill Nelson in Broward county, possibly even enough to cost him his Senate seat. They do appear to be real undervotes, though, instead of tabulation errors. He doesn't really seem to have a path to victory."

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: brendasnipes

1 posted on 11/18/2018 8:07:38 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com
RACE-Card
2 posted on 11/18/2018 8:08:38 AM PST by FrankR ( You've got to stand for SOMETHING, or you'll fall for ANYTHING.)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

So, is she saying that to be corrupt, lying and cheating is inherent in being black, therefore racist? I’m very confused.


3 posted on 11/18/2018 8:16:45 AM PST by rigelkentaurus
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

YES, that’s DEFINITELY IT!

Controversy, incompetence, fraud, all MANUFACTURED by the EVIL WHITE FOLKS in the GOP

Seriously, America, when are you going to tire of these excuses by dishonest totalitarian mindset racists like Brenda?


4 posted on 11/18/2018 8:16:51 AM PST by A_Former_Democrat ("Mods/Indies/Dems/Non-voters" JOBS or MOBS? Are CRAZY DIMS REALLY who you want BACK in POWER?)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com
p22
5 posted on 11/18/2018 8:18:09 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

So when 95% of blacks voted for the Brown Clown it wasn’t racist?


6 posted on 11/18/2018 8:19:43 AM PST by Renegade
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

Stop selling crazy. We’re all stocked up.


7 posted on 11/18/2018 8:21:29 AM PST by Huskrrrr
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

Trending...

Republicans provide no evidence, while

Democrats fail to elaborate

...and that’s the way it is.


8 posted on 11/18/2018 8:29:26 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Ruth Bader Ginsburg doctor is a taxidermist.)
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To: FrankR

Amen it’s all they have.


9 posted on 11/18/2018 8:33:05 AM PST by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

Race Card only comes out when they know they’re in big dodo


10 posted on 11/18/2018 8:36:07 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

Proverbs 11:1
A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.

Cheaters take note but fools ignore and will reap their deeds eventually.


11 posted on 11/18/2018 8:36:46 AM PST by tflabo
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

Darn, I thought it was global warming ... just the race card again!


12 posted on 11/18/2018 8:54:04 AM PST by ThePatriotsFlag (We are getting even more than we voted for.)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

Yeah, witch. Racism against white conservatives/Republicans.

Lock. Her. Up.


13 posted on 11/18/2018 8:54:54 AM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

So, they’ve got nothing then.


14 posted on 11/18/2018 9:10:19 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Stop The Madness. Do Not Respond To Vanity Posts.)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

“Racism” is such a nice catch-all answer.


15 posted on 11/18/2018 9:23:00 AM PST by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!!!)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

“Broward Elections Supervisor Blames Racism For Recount Debacle “

So what?


16 posted on 11/18/2018 10:08:35 AM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: UMCRevMom@aol.com

So let me get this straight. Snipes is telling all of the world that she’s done a bad job because she’s black. Okay, i guess that i should believe her if that’s what she says.


17 posted on 11/18/2018 5:30:50 PM PST by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable.)
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