Canova sues for access to ballots from 2016 race
Tim Canova, who has suggested he might not really have lost his 2016 primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is suing the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office to gain access to the ballots from the election.
Canova is challenging Wasserman Schultz again in the 2018 primary. In June, when he announced his plan for a rematch, he said election integrity would be a top priority, and vowed to seek a recount of the results regardless of the outcome.
In the lawsuit filed June 6 in Broward County Circuit Court, Canova said Lulu Friesdat, a person acting on his behalf, has been unsuccessful in getting access to the 2016 primary ballots under the state’s public records law. He wants Circuit Judge Raag Singhal to order the Supervisor of Elections Office to provide the records, which he said Snipes has refused to produce for “copying and/or scanning.”
Burnadette NorrisWeeks, counsel for Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, asked Singhal to dismiss the case. On July 5, NorrisWeeks wrote in her argument for dismissal that the Canova team can’t show its side has actually made an attempt to get the records he requested. Also, she said, Canova’s side never asked for photocopies, but instead wanted to bring in scanning equipment.
The lawsuit doesn’t allege anything wrong with the Aug. 30 primary, which Canova lost to Wasserman Schultz 57 percent to 43 percent. In Broward, which makes up most of the 23rd Congressional District, Wasserman Schultz received 26,608 votes and Canova got 20,504. She won the Miami-Dade County part of the district, 2,201 to 1,403.
Canova couldn’t be reached by voicemail or text message on Thursday. But in the months after the 2016 primary, Canova suggested on Twitter, on Facebook and in person, that he might not really have lost.
On Twitter, he wrote: “Independent statistical analysis: results of my primary vs @DWStweets are ‘mathematically improbable.’ Manipulated?”
In October, he hosted an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., at which his guests questioned whether Wasserman Schultz legitimately won the primary. He stopped short of suggesting manipulation, referring to “a study that raises some question about the results of the election. I’m not a statistician or a demographer, so I’m learning a lot from this as well.”
Asked whether he won or lost the primary, Canova said, “I have no idea.”