Broward County Ballot Design May Have Misled over 26,000 Voters
Florida’s Broward County has been rocked by another election scandal as doubts of a fair ballot design begin to come forward.
The doubts partly stem from the county’s extremely high rate of undervoting. In Broward County, the United States Senate race saw 26,000 votes less than the state’s governor race, reports FiveThirtyEight.
The disparity in voter participation for the two races is unlike anything seen in other counties.
One explanation some have pointed to is poor ballot design.
The machine-readable sheets list the Senate race, between Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson, in the left-most bottom corner, beneath a lengthy instruction section. The governor’s race, which received over 20,000 more votes, has prominent billing at the top of the center column.
The problem is so glaring that even MSNBC is commenting on the ballot’s layout.
No other place in Florida experienced the level of undervoting Broward County did.
Ultimately, the design failings of the ballot rest on election leadership: Broward County’s Supervisor of Elections, Brenda Snipes. Although originally given the position by a Republican governor, Tampa’s WTSP reports Snipes herself is a Democrat.
The station profiled Snipes and her many missteps as Broward’s supervisor of elections.
Her failings while in office range from destroying ballots to secretly opening mailed votes.
This election has only cemented public opinion against Snipes. Calls for investigation into Broward County’s handling of ballots are growing, as are a number of people demanding the county find a new Supervisor of Elections.
Under fire from President Donald Trump and others, Snipes said the accusations against her are simply people speaking without “vetting” the information.
#WATCH: Dr. Brenda Snipes Responds To President Trump’s Harsh Criticism and Says “We Will Meet The Deadline” https://t.co/9RRQbFjzgw @BrowardVotes #FloridaRecount pic.twitter.com/yrtuh0DzQc
— CBS4 Miami (@CBSMiami) November 12, 2018
Her response does little to assuage Americans’ fears of an unfair election on U.S. soil, and it seemingly puts her no closer to presenting an accurate tally of votes submitted in her county.
Although the election officially ended a week ago, Broward County’s ineptitude continues to captivate the nation.
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