Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Social media reacts to Snipes – with ridicule
Elections supervisor facing online backlash after voting troubles
Users of social media, who have been heaping criticism on Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes, pounced on her decision to resign.
And they weren’t kind. They responded with a vengeance to resignation, effective Jan. 4, from the office she’s held for 15 years.
Dozens and dozens of posters applauded the decision. Many suggested she should be prosecuted for crimes, though there’s been no evidence she engaged in any kind of criminal activity. Some used the phrase “lock her up,” the chant directed toward Hillary Clinton at Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign rallies.
Others responded with mockery.
“Worry not. We’ll presumably learn soon that she submitted it two minutes after the deadline, so it doesn’t count,” tweeted Charles C. W. Cooke, editor of the conservative NationalReview.com.
That was a reference to one of the midterm election mishaps under Snipes. After the conclusion of the machine recount in races or U.S. Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner, Broward submitted its results to the state two minutes late.
“Then the canvassing board will meet and announce that when she said ‘resign,’ she really meant ‘get a raise’ and that because of intermingled paychecks it has voted unanimously to that effect,” Cooke wrote, referencing another vote counting problem.
The vote totals went down from the initial vote count to the machine recount of ballots. Snipes explained that some ballots that hadn’t been recounted were inadvertently placed with the ballots that had been recounted, meaning the recount totals came up 2,040 votes short.
Other Twitter users alluded to ballots that turned up after election night. In 2012, almost 1,000 uncounted ballots were discovered a week after the election.
“No way,” Twitter user Jeremy Campbell wrote about Snipes submitting her resignation Sunday. “She submitted it weeks ago, but it’s been a box that has only just been found.”
A Twitter user who goes by the name Mr. Riley wrote that “I hope her resignation doesn’t get misplaced! I heard it’s in the office somewhere.”
Christine Tatum referred to a problem that plagues some mail ballots — signatures that don’t match voter registration records. Not unique to Broward, signature mismatches cause some ballots to be excluded.
“Let me guess,” Tatum wrote. “She submitted four resignation letters, each with a different signature.”
Some mail ballots get held up in the mail, and don’t count if they don’t arrive by the time the polls close on Election Day. About Snipes’ resignation letter, a Twitter user who just goes by his first name, Chuck, asked: “I wonder if it will be lost in the mail?’
Before Snipes resigned, the Diamond and Silk conservative comedy duo, favored by Trump, posted a video mocking the elections supervisor. In it, they freeze a video of Snipes and enter the scene to start hectoring her.
They ask if Snipes is trying to put the election “in the bag” for someone other than the rightful winner. Then they pull out and offer a series of bags — grocery, book, gift, knitted, duffel, doggie — to Snipes and labeled her a “bag lady” who might be “carrying out the ballots.”
Another round of mocking came last week after Politico Florida reporter Matt Dixon offered up the notion that mishaps in Snipes’ office might lead to a book deal.
The Twitterverse had plenty to say.
“The book is titled ‘Removal’ coming to Broward any day now,” wrote state Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Broward Democrat.
Joe Mobley suggested this title: “Snipes Hunt: The Quest for What Doesn’t Exist.”
Others were more skeptical. “Book publishers have deadlines too,” wrote Arek Sarkissian. And Beth Matuga responded that all the copies of the book would have a different number of pages.
CNN analyst Chris Cillizza treated the news of Snipes’ resignation as if it was the end of a theatrical performance. “And, scene,” he wrote on Twitter.