Blame Brenda Snipes for Thurs Election Farce
BY BUDDY NEVINS
On Thrusday, voters in North Broward will elect a County Commissioner.
By voters, I mean a handful of voters. A couple of thousand or so….at the most.
Several political consultants estimate that roughly 5 percent of the Democrats in District 2 will choose from a field of five candidates.
There are 57,623 Democrats in the district, so about 2,800 will vote. Maybe a little more or a little less.
Do the math. Divide that small voter turnout among five candidates.
It is almost certain that a member of the Broward County Commission will be seated with the massive mandate of a thousand or so votes. Maybe a little more or a little less.
A county commissioner in the state’s second biggest county winning with such a small number of votes is not only a farce. It’s a disgrace.
Blame Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes and her handpicked legal counsel Burnadette Norris-Weeks for this shameful special election.
The original Democratic primary in August had been delayed due to litigation over a write-in candidate .
These two suggested the date on a Thursday, which was approved by a judge. I believe the balloting actually could have taken place on the traditional Tuesday, Nov. 4, along with the rest of the races.
Snipes and Norris-Weeks said they couldn’t hold a Democratic primary on the same day as a general election. So they scheduled tomorrow’s special election.
I don’t buy their excuse.
Doesn’t the elections office already print dozens of ballot styles for all the various races in different parts of the county? Why couldn’t they add one extra ballot on Nov. 4 for Democrats in District 2?
And why a Thursday?
What is the real difference between Dec. 4 and Nov. 4? Nothing, except Snipes and Norris-Weeks’ special election is costing the public $200,000. Plus another $200,000 for the election in January when this week’s Democratic winner will face a write-in.
An elections HQ still unbuilt after 12 years of planning. Long lines at the polls two years ago. Ballot boxes found left in polling places hours after the election was completed.
Add to that sorry record tomorrow’s election travesty. It is just one more reason why Broward needs a change in the elections office.
December 3rd, 2014 at 5:12 pm
I don’t buy her excuses either. Delaying elections because of printing excuses. In this day and age could have been printed overnight. It’s only 200k wasted, chum change to her, real money to you and me.
Dr. Snipes is not the idiot in this. She was the supervisor of elections for over 10 years. She wasn’t challenged in 2012. Broward County was the idiot for allowing this to continue. As long as she does not get removed by the governor she will still have a highly paid job for the next 2 years.
All the political consultants knew for the last 10 years where the lines up were. They all made sure to have people to hand out palm cards on election day to polling places which not only had lots of voters but lines that were slow so people would actually stop and read the cards. It was primarily the same place each time. Nothing changed. She was the smart lady managing to keep her job after so many screw ups. She is way over her head and just keeps smiling every two weeks when she receives her pay check.
December 3rd, 2014 at 5:54 pm
Buddy correct me if I am wrong but isn’t it the court that dictates the dates for the elections?It seems everytime you write about Dr. Snipes it is always negative remark sand also in reference about the ballot box was it not empty because that was what was written about it.No one has ever done a primary and then have a general election and the write in candidate created this issue and that is why the court made the decisions as to when people could vote
FROMO BUDDY:
The judge merely agreed with Snipes’ decision.
December 3rd, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Snipes may have had good reasons for the special election, given all the legal and operational requirements involved.
As for the new elections HQ, I wonder what is taking so long?!? They had a great site picked out – the former BJ’s in Sunrise at Oakland Park & University.
And speaking of Sunrise, It’s back in the news! Remember the big outrage a while back about Sunrise Police intentionally bringing out-of-state drug dealers to Sunrise? Buddy wrote an article about it here:
http://www.browardbeat.com/do-something-about-sunrises-out-of-control-cops/
And now – despite the heavy criticism – they’re doing it AGAIN!!!
http://nypost.com/2014/12/03/former-cop-of-the-year-busted-on-coke-trafficking-charges/#
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2859351/Former-Cop-Year-busted-coke-trafficking-charges.html
FROM BUDDY:
As predicted, the BJs deal fell through because of problems with the qualifications of the seller.
December 3rd, 2014 at 7:20 pm
Dr. Snipes, did an excellent job cleaning up after the privious Supervisor of Elections. But recently, she has made too many costly mistakes and I believe we need someone, younger(I’m a senior)who will bring a fresh knew perspective to the position. When confronted with the past mistakes she stated that it was much ado about nothing! Wrong, time for some knew blood without political clout to run this very important position. It needs to be streamlined and updated. I, myself, have been a victim of some past mistakes and we need a change. Although I stated we need someone without political clout, I would love to see Mr. Lockwood, Jr as the knew Supervisor of Elections. I met him and he was all about updated and streamlining the position. Kudos to him.
December 3rd, 2014 at 7:22 pm
Please excuse my spelling errors in the above statement.
December 3rd, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Burnadette Norris-Weeks was previously the SOE attorney when Miriam Oliphant was in office. That’s not the only thing that has not changed – Snipes has become as incompetent as Oliphant. It’s time for a true professional who understands public service to step forward. A serious challenge will cause Snipes’ house of cards to cave in!
FROM BUDDY:
Maybe its time for the Broward County Commission to consider putting on the ballot a proposal on the supervisor. The proposal would ask voters to make the supervisor a professional hired by the county manager, rather than an elected official.
December 4th, 2014 at 6:43 am
The Florida Supreme Court will soon determine the constitutionality of Section 99.0615, Florida Statute regarding residency requirements at the time of qualification for write-in candidates. After litigation, it was determined by an appeals court that this state statute is in conflict with the state constitution. It was also determined that the local County Commission District 2 race should be held as a closed primary. This legal determination was not rendered until after the August 2014 primary. Never before in the history of the State of Florida has a primary election been held in conjunction with a November General Election. The professionals who developed the voting systems testified that holding the two types of elections together at the same time was not possible. As a result, setting new dates for a District 2 primary and general was necessary. Also, certified voting systems require that one race is closed out before another race can be programmed into the voting systems. Given the two lengthy recounts that were statutorily required after the November General Election, it is clear that the Broward SOE exercised sound judgment in scheduling the District 2 race for December 4th. There is no requirement for non-State and Federal elections to be held on a Tuesday. Selecting a Thursday following a busy Thanksgiving travel holiday was the best option to allow for more voter participation. Prior to scheduling dates, the Broward SOS presented all options to the Circuit Court Judge for approval. The SOE also worked closely with County staff in setting the dates for their County election. Voters had the option to vote in the District 2 race either by absentee ballot or at the polls. While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, it stands to reason that your opinion should be based on all available facts.
December 4th, 2014 at 9:01 am
@Burnadette,
Huh?
December 4th, 2014 at 8:33 pm
Let’s not confuse some of you with the facts. Haters hate……that’s what they do best. Would be nice if the same person writing from multiple addresses used her real name.
December 4th, 2014 at 9:48 pm
I have just seen the results for the election for District 2 and Mark Bogen won and without any negative respones it is my understanding that the election went off without any problems whatsoever and Dr.Snipes conducted the election in a very professional manner
December 5th, 2014 at 12:49 am
@One Who Remembers
and
Buddy rebuttal
the 2016 election(s) (primary in Aug 2016 and real big deal in Nov) will help keep the dems out of power so please
do not encourage the catatonic BCC to make any constitutional changes to OUR Broward Charter till AFTER 2017
snipes is clueless but so are the registered voters shehas spent MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of our tax dollars on “Outreach”and they are completely disinterested
look at fort ldle where less than 10% put them in control
a sorry lot in broward county
December 7th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
I think Dr. Snipes should be applauded for meeting with the write in candidate after hours and explained the problems that would occur if he stayed on the ballot for an additional 2 weeks and by him dropping out Dr. Snipes saved 200,000 that would have to be spent so kudos to you Dr. Snipes
December 14th, 2014 at 5:09 am
Just remember everyone that “Mr. Intregity” Dean Trantalis and “Mr Open Mindedness” Bruce Roberts put PLANTATION RESIDENT and MIRIAM OLIPHANT’s BROTHER on the FORT LAUDERDALE CITY COMMISSION! Moreover after “protesting” that PLANTATION McKinzie was put on the FORT LAUDERDALD city commission, Mr. “SUPER INTREGRITY” Tim Smith has PLANTATION McKinzie play Dr. Sistrunk in his play on Ft. Lauderdale CITY history!
The problem in Broward County is the people you TRUST to have INTREGRITY, Dean Trantalis, Bruce Roberts, Tim Smith, make “deals” that undercut any attempt at honest government. Of course the Board of Elections lawyer is not up to the job, but who in Broward County government is??????????????