President Trump on Wednesday called on Brenda Snipes to be removed as Broward County’s election supervisor after bungling the midterm elections and the ongoing recount there.
“Oh, she should have been removed — I think she should have been removed in the middle of this mix up,” Trump said in the Oval Office Wednesday during an interview with the Daily Caller.
Snipes, 68, a Democrat, has won four elections in Broward County since she was installed by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003, despite repeated accusations of incompetence and corruption. She now finds herself at the center of controversy over a recount effort in which she has withheld information about the status of the effort.
She is facing both a lawsuit and calls for her removal from office for withholding information on how many votes remain to be counted in Florida’s still-undeclared Senate race, one of three statewide recounts currently underway. The national Republican Party has said that Snipes is guilty of “incompetence and gross mismanagement.”
Snipes faces a lawsuit from Florida Gov. Rick Scott that claims she violated public records laws by not providing the public regular updates about the voting tallies as the recounts continue. Florida state law requires that her office must provide regular tally updates every 45 minutes. Snipes has failed to give those regular updates, arguing that she is doing all she can to make sure that all votes are counted.
She also faces potential suspension or removal from office at the hands of Scott or Ron DeSantis, the Republican candidate who remains favorite to become governor.
The incoming Florida state Senate President Bill Galvano has already said that if Snipes is suspended, he will have the body investigate and prepare to remove Snipes from office.
