As Nikki Fried expands lead, Matt Caldwell sues Broward elections supervisor

CALDWELL_FRIED RECOUNT (2)

North Fort Myers Republican Matt Caldwell continues to lose ground in the Agriculture Commissioner race to Democrat Nikki Fried. The current deficit is over 3,000 votes.

However, for Caldwell there is a caveat. And that caveat rests in potential vote count rigging.

On Friday, Caldwell’s campaign filed legal action against the Supervisor of Elections in majority Democratic Broward County, saying absentee ballots may have been accepted after the polls closed.

Broward, with a history of elections irregularities, has been on fire for Fried: as of 3 p.m. Friday, she led Caldwell by over 234,000 votes in the South Florida stronghold.

The suit, filed in the 17th Judicial Circuit, requests protection of “the integrity of all ballots and all public records” including “all vote counts and any communications between Snipes, her executive team, her staff, and any third parties talking to the county about counting ballots.”

“The suit asks the court to determine if Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes illegally included ballots after polls closed on Tuesday, November 6 and if so, to remove those votes from the electoral tabulation,” asserts a media release from the Caldwell camp.

The election complaint noted that “Snipes held a news conference on November 8, 2018. Despite being questioned about the counting of absentee ballots, she would not confirm the number of absentee ballots that remain to be counted. No information has been provided that confirms that only absentee ballots being received by 7 p.m. on November 6, 2018, were being counted.”

“Broward County inexplicably still has yet to complete the vote-by-mail ballots and early-voting ballots three days after Election Day,” the complaint added.

“Brenda Snipes’ office has a record of gross incompetence and illegal behavior. Given the length of time it has taken her office to count votes and the history of Snipes’ past violations, we have concerns the law is not being followed. We want to ensure every legal vote is counted and that we have a forensic reconstruction of when ballots were cast and how,” said Caldwell campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez.

“On Tuesday, the voters of Florida elected Matt Caldwell as our next Commissioner of Agriculture. We are committed to upholding the will of the voters and protecting the integrity of Florida’s electoral process from those seeking to erode our democracy,” Alvarez added.

Caldwell’s umbrage was not over, however. His campaign blasted Broward announcing over two thousand more vote by mail ballots to be counted.

“After announcing last night that they had completed counting vote by mail ballots, it is absurd and outrageous that Brenda Snipes now says there are 2,100 more mail ballots that need to be counted in Broward County. Not only that, her office still cannot answer basic questions about how many early votes remain uncounted. The lack of transparency or competence in the Broward Supervisor’s handling of this election is astounding,” asserted a campaign spokesperson.

“This news comes on the heels of a judge ruling Snipes’ office violated public records laws and must immediately allow inspections of all records and no spoliation of records by 7 pm tonight. When does it end? Florida voters deserve better. Matt Caldwell is committed to upholding the integrity of our electoral process,” Caldwell’s campaign added.

Supervisors of elections in Broward and Palm Beach counties have been ordered to turn over records regarding the number of ballots cast in their respective areas following a pair of lawsuits by the Rick Scott for Senate campaign.

Brenda Snipes’ office in Broward has until 7 p.m. Friday evening to turn over those records.

If Fried wins, she could be the only Democrat in the Florida Cabinet, as thus far the rest of the Republican slate all leads its Democratic competition.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


5 comments

  • Truth be Told

    November 9, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    Caldwell says he wants every vote to count, but then wants to block votes not counted after Tuesday. That is wrong! Caldwell is going to penalize voters due to Broward being inept? Mr. Caldwell shame on you!

    • Florida Storm

      November 10, 2018 at 1:53 pm

      as a registered independent, I see the fraud (voter suppression) across this nation. The GOP appears to have lost their moral compass long ago. Too bad.

    • Andrew

      November 15, 2018 at 10:20 am

      Every vote should count equally and fairly, I agree. If you count mail in votes received after the 6th in Broward, to be equal, you also have to count late mail in votes in all counties. Agreed? do you see the can of worms you have to open to “count every vote fairly”? (Example: Jacksonville and The Villages had a much higher participation rate and are over 66% republican, you include their late mail in votes and they will most likely pick up more votes than the democrats).
      So it is critical to treat every vote exactly the same state wide. The cherry picking of counties who are allowed to fudge is scary to me. And i am a democrat. But i am starting to question the Democratic Parties ethics even more now.

  • Alexander Brown

    November 10, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    NIKKI!!!!

  • Kayla

    November 11, 2018 at 8:46 am

    Matt Caldwell is the only one backed by Florida farmers & that speaks volumes!!! Plus in my opinion Nikki Fried just shows nothing but a corruptive agenda.

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories