Antonacci is poised to play Katherine Harris in 2020 presidential election

With the presidential election underway, it is shocking to learn that Broward Supervisor of Elections Peter Antonacci is asking Republican Gov. Ron Desantis to be appointed chief judge of the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings.

On second thought, given Antonacci’s history, it’s not so shocking.

But without question, his job application raises an enormous conflict of interest.

Antonacci may wonder why voters in Democrat-rich Broward County, which plays a pivotal role in presidential elections, view him with skepticism. But consider that when former Gov. Rick Scott put him in charge of running elections here — including the 2020 presidential election — Antonacci was a Tallahassee Republican lawyer with zero experience in running elections. He was, however, known as the Republican governor’s political fixer.

That he raised his hand late Thursday for this plum job helps explain the raised eyebrows. By asking for this appointment, Antonacci has put himself in a submissive posture before today’s Republican governor, who clearly wants President Trump re-elected.

DeSantis owes the president, after all, for helping him overcome obscurity and win the governor’s mansion two years ago. Just last week, the president said that if he is not re-elected, he will work to “fire” DeSantis.

So more than the White House is on the line in Broward. So are DeSantis’s political fortunes.

Given that Antonacci is now asking the governor for a big-time favor, how can we trust any decision he makes during these critical voting days and those that could follow if the election is a squeaker, as it so often is?

Just this week, Antonacci refused to enforce the county’s emergency public health order requiring people to wear face masks inside public places, including early voting sites. Is he trying to send a subtle message that voting isn’t safe, thereby scaring away seniors and depressing the vote in this blue county? Or is he simply trying to please a governor who doesn’t want county mask orders enforced, even with COVID-19 cases continuing to climb?

One thing is certain. If Antonacci crosses the governor, there’s no way he will get this top job. For while the other three members of Florida’s Republican-dominated Cabinet also get a vote, his selection will go nowhere without the governor’s blessing.

Antonacci knows how these things work from having worked in the governor’s office as Rick Scott’s general counsel. He wouldn’t have put his name in the public pool without good reason to believe he will get the appointment after his current appointment expires in January. That’s when a supervisor chosen by Broward voters will take back the elections office.

We can’t help but recall how Antonacci, 71, led us to believe that this job would be his last.

Now, by scurrying for the next one, he casts a cloud of suspicion over any good he might have done.

It’s hardly the first time Antonacci has failed to put the interests of Broward voters first.

During the primary, unlike his counterparts in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, he scheduled only nine days of early voting, just one more than the minimum required by law.

He also fought the self-implementation of Amendment4, which 72 percent of Broward voters approved believing certain non-violent felons should have their voting rights restored. Antonacci sided with the Republican Legislature.

Last November, he also sent “final notices” to 54,000 voters warning that he had information that they no longer lived at the address they claimed. One of the wrongly flagged voters was Ken Evans, state committeeman for the Broward Democratic Party and a Democratic National Committee member. He has lived in the same home for two decades and has been a faithful voter since 1973. Antonacci blamed technology for his chilling mistake.

In May, Antonacci also sent an Englishonly postcard to all voters in this minority-majority county, encouraging them to vote by mail. And in July, just three days before the deadline to register to vote in the primary, his website went down for maintenance.

During the infamous 2000 recount, former Republican Secretary of State Katherine Harris proved the power of a partisan elections official to sway the outcome of a presidential election.

With Antonacci having signaled where his future bread will be buttered, watch out.