As the country closely watches the results of the Florida Senate and Governor races, many are highly-skeptical of Brenda Snipes, the Broward Supervisor of Elections office, given her past conduct and violation of election laws.
With Snipes on the receiving end of well-earned criticism, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell claimed on her show Monday that Snipes is not really a Democratic official.
“You mentioned in your show open, that people have been talking about fraud, but not providing any evidence of that. The judge took note of that and cautioned everybody to tamp their rhetoric down,” NBC’s Ali Vitali explained. “So when you hear Rick Scott and the president of the United States and other Republicans come out and talking about fraud or ballots coming up out of nowhere, there’s been no evidence of that and I think that’s really important as we go forward, both with the legal side of this and the recount itself.”
“We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican appointed by former governor, then-Governor Jeb Bush,” Mitchell said, according to Mediaite. “So, she was put in by a Republican governor after the mess that we all remember from 2000. And she’s hardly a Democratic official, or someone doing the bidding of the democratic candidates there.”
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell: "We should also point out that Brenda Snipes in Broward County is a Republican appointed by former governor, then-Governor Jeb Bush...And she’s hardly a Democratic official, or someone doing the bidding of the Democratic candidates there."
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 12, 2018
This is a lie. pic.twitter.com/FiwOA251zP
The claim by Mitchell is astounding given that Snipes had run for re-election as a Democrat since her appointment by Bush in 2003. Since then, she has been winning, as a Democrat, in both primaries and general elections.
The election officials in Broward County and Palm Beach County have not been helping their claims of no election tampering as they have broken election laws and ignored court orders.
Palm Beach County officials had even banned members of the media from filming and photographing the midterm election ballot review process.
This is a public canvassing board meeting in Broward, why are the media not being allowed inside??? ?@nbc6? pic.twitter.com/H3oxhf9itZ
— Dan Krauth (@DanNBC6) November 9, 2018
Susan Bucher, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, says news crews cannot record the Canvassing Board as it reviews Vote By Mail & Provisional Ballots bc “signatures are on the table”. We’ve objected to the public meeting continuing w/out being allowed to record @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/KVPdCqRq1U
— Marissa Bagg (@MarissaNBC6) November 9, 2018
“Tensions flared Friday morning when Bucher threatened to have camera operators and newspaper reporters arrested for filming ballot tabulation as Palm Beach County,” the Palm Beach Post reported. “The meeting at least half a dozen television cameras and even more reporters as Palm Beach County is one of the last in Florida to report unofficial results in an election with three tight statewide races. Bucher accused several reporters of illegally taking pictures and videos of signatures on the envelopes of mail ballots.”
It had to take the intervention of a judge to let reporters and cameras back in the room to observe the process.
#BREAKING Judge agrees with @NBCNews, @nbc6 and other media outlets— cameras are now allowed to record inside room where provisional ballots are being reviewed by canvassing board in Palm Beach County #Transparency pic.twitter.com/evGNQHVuKX
— Marissa Bagg (@MarissaNBC6) November 10, 2018