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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, November 14, 2018 3A
Florida official known
for missteps in ballot
recount crosshairs
BY CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE,
— At the center of Florida’s
vote recount storm is an
elections supervisor with
a checkered past whose
Democratic-dominated
county has been the target
of protests and accusations,
including by President Don
ald Trump, that something
fraudulent is afoot.
Lawyers for Republican
Gov. Rick Scott, who is in a
razor-thin Senate race with
incumbent Democrat Bill
Nelson, have claimed that
Broward Supervisor of Elec
tions Brenda Snipes commit
ted fraud without presenting
any evidence. Trump has
echoed those claims on
Twitter.
State monitors and the
Florida Department of Law
Enforcement say there are
no indications of fraud in the
county’s vote.
Yet, Snipes, a Democrat,
remains a target for the
GOP, including former Gov.
Jeb Bush, who appointed
her to the post in 2003 when
the previous supervisor was
accused of malfeasance and
now says Snipes should be
removed. Snipes has been
re-elected since then, and
is unapologetic about her
record.
“I’ve worked here for
about 15 years, and I have
to say this the first time that
this office or I have been
under such attacks,” Snipes
told reporters Monday.
“There have been issues
that haven’t gone the way
we wanted it. You can call
it a mistake or you can call
it whatever you want to call
it.”
On Tuesday, Snipes hinted
to reporters that she might
not run for re-election in
2020 — “It is time to move
on,” she said — but quickly
added that no final decision
has been made.
“I’ll check with my family
and they’ll tell me what I’m
doing,” she said.
Since Snipes has been in
office, there seems to be a
long list of these mistakes.
Earlier this year, for
example, a judge ruled
she broke election law by
destroying ballots in a 2016
congressional primary race
involving Democratic Rep.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
without waiting the required
22 months. Also in 2016, a
medical marijuana amend
ment didn’t appear on some
JOE SKIPPER I Associated Press
Brenda Snipes, left, Broward County Supervisor of
Elections, looks at a ballot with Betsy Benson, canvasing
board chair during a canvasing board meeting in Lauderhill,
Fla., Nov. 9. Snipes is a target for the GOP, including former
Gov. Jeb Bush, who appointed her to the post in 2003.
Snipes, a Democrat, has been re-elected since then, and is
unapologetic about her record.
Broward ballots, and again
that year results from pri
mary elections were posted
on the office’s website
before polls had closed.
A week after the 2012
election, about 1,000
uncounted ballots were sud
denly discovered. And in
2004, about 58,000 mail-in
ballots were not delivered,
requiring workers to hurry
to replace them.
Just last week, a judge
found that Snipes had vio
lated Florida open records
laws by failing to quickly
provide voting records to
attorneys for Scott’s Senate
campaign.
“This is not a case about
counting votes. This is a
simple case about access to
information that the supervi
sor of elections was required
to have and required to pro
vide,” said Scott lawyer Jor
dan Zimmerman. “This is
simply public information
the public is entitled to.”
Snipes, 68, a native of Tal
ladega, Alabama, moved to
Broward County in 1964 to
begin what became a long
career as an educator. She
eventually rose to become
an area director in the pub
lic school system, leading
principals from 16 schools,
according to the supervisor’s
office web site.
In 2003 Bush appointed
her to the supervisor’s
position after her prede
cessor, Miriam Oliphant,
was removed from office
because of numerous prob
lems in the 2002 primary
election.
Now Bush is calling for
Snipes to be removed after
the ongoing recount.
Scott has not commented
on whether he would take
such a step. However, in
his nearly eight years as
governor, Scott has only sus
pended or removed elected
officials when they are
charged with crimes.
Snipes remains a target
of Trump and other Repub
licans, including a cadre of
protesters who have some
times broken into chants
of “lock her up,” mainly
because of their claims she
is trying to tilt the elections
for Senate and governor to
the Democrats. Scott has a
slim lead over Nelson and
Republican Ron DeSantis is
ahead of Democrat Andrew
Gillum for governor.
Elections experts, how
ever, say it’s not unusual
for contested or provisional
votes in “blue” Democratic
counties like Broward to
mainly support that party.
“It is no surprise that
Democrats gain votes later
in the counting process in
part because big cities tend
to contain lots of Demo
cratic votes, and given their
population, cities take much
longer to count,” said Rich
ard Hasen, law professor at
the University of California-
Irvine and author of books
on election controversies, in
an opinion article Monday in
Slate.
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JOHN LOCHER I Associated Press
A sign stands at a community destroyed by the Camp fire, Tuesday, Nov. 13, in Paradise,
Calif.
Searches ramp up
after California fire
BY MARTHA MENDOZA
AND GILUAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PARADISE, Calif. —
Ernest Foss was a musi
cian who gave lessons
out of his home when he
lived in San Francisco,
where an amplifier that
ran the length of a wall
served as the family’s liv
ing room couch.
Carl Wiley refurbished
tires for Michelin. Jesus
Fernandez was known as
“Zeus.”
They were among the
first victims identified
in the aftermath of the
deadliest, most destruc
tive wildfire in Califor
nia history, an inferno
blamed for at least 42
deaths, with authorities
ramping up the search
Tuesday for still more
victims.
The flames all but
obliterated the Northern
California town of Para
dise, population 27,000,
and ravaged surrounding
areas last Thursday. The
exact number of missing
was unclear, but many
friends and relatives of
those living in the fire
zone said they hadn’t
heard from loved ones.
Efforts were under
way to bring in mobile
morgues, cadaver dogs,
a rapid DNA analysis sys
tem for identifying vic
tims, and an additional
150 search-and-rescue
personnel on top of 13
teams already looking for
remains — a grim indica
tion that the death toll
would almost surely rise.
As of midday Tuesday,
Butte County Sheriff Kory
Honea’s office had identi
fied four of the dead.
James Wiley said sher
iff’s deputies informed
him that his father, Carl,
was among the dead, but
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the younger Wiley hadn’t
been able to leave his prop
erty in the fire area to see
for himself. Wiley, 77, was a
tire-recapper, and the fam
ily lived in Alaska for many
years before moving to Butte
County decades ago.
James Wiley said his
father was a stoic veteran,
and the two had not spoken
in six years. “Hey, I lost him
a long time ago,” the younger
man said.
Foss, 63, moved to Para
dise eight years ago because
the high cost of living pushed
him out of the San Fran
cisco Bay Area, according
to his daughter, Angela Loo.
He had swollen limbs and
couldn’t walk. He had also
been on oxygen.
Loo told KTVU-TV in Oak
land that her father gave
music lessons out of their
home in San Francisco and
turned the living room into a
studio. The family couch was
an amplifier.
“I love that he shared his
gift of music with me and so
many others during his life
time,” she said. “He would
want to be remembered
for being a San Franciscan
through and through.”
Fernandez, a 48-year-old
Concow resident, died along
with his beloved dog, King.
Five days after the blaze,
over 1,000 people were at
more than a half-dozen shel
ters set up for evacuees.
At the Neighborhood
Church in Chico, counselors,
chaplains and nursing stu
dents from California State
University at Chico were
available to help. Volunteers
cooked meals, and there was
a large bulletin board with
information about missing
people.
Eddie Lazarom, who fled
Paradise on foot before get
ting a lift from a UPS truck,
was among those staying at
the church. He said he had
yet to hear from his three
grandchildren, ages 22, 24
and 28.
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