Activist: Force Elections Chief Snipes To Retire
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Criticism of Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes is increasing, with at least one leading Democratic activist calling for her forced retirement.
Brenda Snipes
Andrew Markoff wrote this on the website called BlueBroward.org: “Dr. Brenda Snipes is now in her early 70′s, and she may be retiring pretty soon. If not, she should be forced to.”
Pretty powerful words, but Markoff is just the latest disenchanted with Snipes. There is significant sentiment on the Broward County Commission that Snipes has dropped the ball repeatedly in recent years.
There is the fiasco over County Commission District 2, where the primary will now be held in November. Snipes can not be blamed for everything that went wrong in that legal fight over the legitimacy of a write-in candidate, but she didn’t help resolve the dispute by defying the judge and delaying the process.
That’s not all.
There is the long-stalled struggle for a new Elections HQ. This has been going on since 2002, much of it caused by Snipes insistence on certain locations. Just this week, the commission again said no deal has been reached yet to build the new HQ in Sunrise. It appears by next month they could be back to square one.
There is her office’s notorious poor customer service. Markoff deals with this in his piece here. I get complaints from voters who say that getting information from that office is often difficult. Compare that with the consumer-friendly Property Appraiser’s Office run by Lori Parrish.
There is the sample ballot mailed to some Republican voters in Northeast Broward. It included a candidate in the County Court Judge, Group 18, who is not on the ballot. Broward Circuit Judge Laura Marie Watson won a seat on the Circuit Court in 2012 !
There have been complaints about the 7 a.m. start and 3 p.m. end of early voting on Sunday.
“Dumb move,” wrote Commissioner Stacy Ritter on Twitter. In another Tweet, Ritter wrote, “…and opening at 11 a.m. on weekdays? w school starting polls should open earlier #dumb&dumber.”
I tweeted Ritter if it was “time to have an elected super?”
“Time for something,” she wrote back.
Snipes, 71, told Browardbeat.com in April and the Sun-Sentinel earlier this month that she hadn’t decided whether to run again. I would bet she doesn’t.
At least one pol is already considering running for her seat in two years. This pol may not get the chance.
If Snipes leaves, expect a discussion about changing the job from elected to a position appointed by the County Manager. Such a move would take a referendum.
August 20th, 2014 at 2:49 pm
My family moved two years ago and her office royally fracked things up. My wife was sent an absentee ballot which corresponded to our old address. She called the SOE office to try to rectify the situation. The person she spoke to lectured her that she was just confused due to redistricting. My wife had to explain to this person that her ballot included Hollywood City Commission Elections, but we lived in Lauderhill. The correct ballot never arrived in time, so she had to vote in person.
August 20th, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Putting more power into the hands of the County Administrator is not the answer. We need people in positions that are accountable to the public. There is zero accountability at the County these days where staff make all the important decisions, rarely informing the the electeds.
August 20th, 2014 at 3:28 pm
“If Snipes leaves, expect a discussion about changing the job from elected to a position appointed by the County Manager. Such a move would take a referendum.”
well voters get a say either way. voting for the next SOE or voting for the charter change via referendum. the constitutional officer if appointed must not be a ‘political’ appointing like some could make it from the dais.
When Miriam was SOE, she wanted, and the BCC entered into a building located off W. Cypress Creel near FXE. The building was empty then. The building is still empty, but deteriorated due to the vacancy of the last 12 years.
Time for Snipes to retire. She already has a nice SBBC pension so she can enjoy her free time.
August 20th, 2014 at 4:05 pm
I’m pleased to see from Buddy that Stacey Ritter has perhaps shared my line of thinking- specifically that Democrats and Broward County might be able to do better in the near future in regards to conducting elections and ensuring that potential voters as well as candidates can get the professional assistance from the SOE office that everyone is entitled to.
I would also like to see concerns and complaints responded to- and in writing!
This is but one example of how, no matter any differences one might have with Commissioner Ritter’s positions on issues, she is an outstanding and outspoken political player, and I always appreciate that.
August 20th, 2014 at 5:42 pm
It would be a good opportunity to have an appointed Supervisor of Elections … the office is administrative in nature. The County Commission funds it, and would get more say if appointed.
August 20th, 2014 at 7:17 pm
It makes sense to me as per Jack Moss’ comment that an administrative position probably cannot adequately and likely should not be determined by the electorate.
August 20th, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Buddy, can you please give us an update on the current status of the new Broward County election headquarters project (from almost exactly a year ago)?
http://www.browardbeat.com/election-hq-deal-remains-up-in-the-air/
FROM BUDDY:
My understanding is that the commission has given staff until September 9 to negotiate a deal with the owners of the old BJs store property at Oakland Park Blvd and University. If no deal is reached, an impasse will be declared.
August 21st, 2014 at 4:02 am
I think the SOE, Property Appraiser and Sheriff should be appointed positions, not elected. Think about something….what if someone from another part of FL who was REALLY good at their job as (for example) sheriff, could be recruited to take over in Broward? They could NEVER get the job since they would have no political clout here. It would be like voting for the school superintendent! Time for BIG change
August 21st, 2014 at 7:08 am
Andrew Markoff is dead on. November 2012 was a disaster and will disenfranchise voters for years to come. Look at the poor turnout. An internal document which was created by Jack Pinkowski, PH.D. Nova Southeaster University email jackpink@nova.edu who chaired the “Broward Legislative Delegation 2012 Elections Task Force” I summarized his teams findings Highlights of Dr. Snipes Blunders top 5 blunders in the task force report:
1. The three precincts ran out of ballots, report does not inform us how this was resolved.
2. The long lines were due to unequal distribution of voting booths and the voters
3. Most sites for early voting only had two machines; but there were plenty of machines in the warehouse.
4. Quote from Mitch Caesar, Broward Democratic Party “We have issues with the fact that some people never received their absentee ballots after they were requested or did not receive them in time.” I even heard this again this year absentee ballots were requested but not received.
5. Another issue is the postage necessary to return the ballot. This time it was $1.50. Miami-Dade County had free postage. Broward accepted all ballots that did not have postage, but didn’t advertise it.
Regarding issue 2, this was the biggest problem that Dr. Snipes should have easily handled, I first hand experienced this at my home precinct, Ramblewood Elementary on Election Day. My neighbors had to wait up to 90 minutes, while the adjacent precinct at the same polling station Ramblewood Elementary had zero wait time. Taravella had similar issues some precincts at the polling station had 90 minutes lines others no lines. Some of the precincts had over 3800 people registered and others had as few as 4. Parkland was particularly hit hard. It was one of the few cities that still had growth. Even though more residents kept moving in, no new precincts were added in the city. They had waits over 4 hours. Candidates and campaign managers knew this even before Nov 2012 as they were busy allocating resources to hand out palm cards. Why Dr. Snipes didn’t have the ability was surprising. Regarding issues 3 early voting sites and Election Day use two different sets of equipment, it makes it very difficult using the same equipment for early and election day since you only have one day to re-program the early voting machines into Election Day machines and moving this equipment. I have suggested to allow county IT support to assist on this one day to at least re-use some of the equipment. Most Election Day equipment arrives up to three weeks early at some polling stations. Regarding Issue 5. Absent ballots is probably the most cost efficient to process. Encouraging more of it would take pressure off Early voting and Election Day voting. Receiving ballots in one central location is efficient use of resources, and can be done over an entire month with permanent equipment. Setting up and tearing down equipment for just one day is expensive and inefficient. Lack of communication with the public. Trying to get written email response from Dr. Snipes has been a night mare. I had emailed her many concerns and had to work thru Stacy Ritters office to get thru my concerns to Dr. Snipes. I have emailed many politicians, I remember a few like Larry Vignola and Marty Kiar, where if I forget to have my emailed delayed to the following morning, they will respond on a Sunday night within a few minutes. I am looking to have an acknowledgement of receipt within a day, and my answers within a week. The only office to fail miserably is Dr. Snipes.
I am in the middle of the process of trying to determine why public records from the state show that some people appeared to have voted twice. I am interested in finding out why. Is it a problem in Dr.Snipes office, the state supervisor of elections, did I make a mistake interpreting the data, or did the election process fail and people actually voted twice. If people actually voted twice did Dr. Snipes know about this problem and for how long. Getting public records from Dr. Snipes is expensive.
To get the entire database of registered voters in Broward county Dr. Snipe charges over $250 dollars. Miami Dade only costs around $25.
After this scalding email, I never expect to get my answer why public records appear to show people have voted twice.
August 21st, 2014 at 10:38 am
Calling Andrew MarkJerkOff a “leading activist” is like referring to bald as a hair color.
August 21st, 2014 at 11:07 am
Andrew Ladonowski for Supervisor of Elections!
August 21st, 2014 at 11:29 am
I find it funny that Stacy Ritter”s name due to all of the investigations made against her and her husband. Should I also mention Chiat? is being used for this article. Like other offices mistakes are made and not caught in time but I feel Dr. Snipes has done a wonderful job and if not mistaken other counties also had major problems and from those errors I feel many corrections have been made.
FROM BUDDY:
Ritter and her husband, Russ Klenet, were never charged with any wrongdoing of any type.
August 21st, 2014 at 12:48 pm
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice,shame on me,fool me three times, well its time to pack it up Dr.Snipes….
August 26th, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Apparently Team Snipes continues to be the gang who can’t shoot straight: https://twitter.com/sheelavanhoose/status/504275576337997824