In Broward County, Fla., there are apparently two ways to recount ballots. One is to re-tabulate the documents via machine. A second way is for election works to fill in blank ballots and add them to the mix.
An affidavit sworn to in November 2016 by one Chelsey Marie Smith accuses county election workers of the latter, which if proven is a federal crime. Smith was herself an election worker until she blew the whistle on this fraudulent act and was summarily fired.
Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp cites the Smith affidavit in a complaint filed in court on behalf of Eric Caldwell, who is running state commissioner of agriculture. In the complaint, Caldwell seeks to enjoin Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes from continuing the recount, arguing that there are irregularities in the ballot tabulation.
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Considering that Broward County leans heavily Democrat, with 50.2% of the population registering as Democrat against only 21.3% registering as Republican, and considering further that all of the candidates who have demanded recounts are Democrat, you can guess which way the ballots are being doctored.
Caldwell’s injunction comes at a time when other suspicious if not criminal activities in Broward County are coming to light. On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that Snipes “accidentally mixed more than a dozen rejected ballots with nearly 200 valid ones.” The paper notes that the discovery is unlikely to help Snipes counter charges of incompetence, but such charges are the least of Snipes’s concerns. A lawsuit brought by the campaign of Sen.-elect Rick Scott accusing Snipes of withholding records revealing how many electors voted, how many ballots had been canvassed, and how many ballots remained to be canvassed, was ruled on on Friday in Scott’s favor.