Protesters, Trucks Appear Outside Broward County Elections Office in Florida

Jack Phillips
11/9/2018
Updated:
11/14/2018

Protesters showed up at the Broward County elections tabulation center in Florida on Nov. 9.

It comes after President Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio, and others highlighted what they say may be election fraud.

Rubio, a Florida Republican, tweeted on Nov. 9: “How can anyone have confidence that the #BrowardCounty election supervisor will be fair when last night she made clear her personal animus toward Gov. Scott & towards the states top law enforcement agency when she claimed he “owns” the #Florida Department of Law Enforcement?”

Meanwhile, Trump issued several tweets on the matter, saying the “world is now watching” Broward County’s election counting effort.

“Thank you @marcorubio for helping to expose the potential corruption going on with respect to Election Theft in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The WORLD is now watching closely!” he tweeted.

“Look, look, bad things have gone on in Broward County. Really bad things,” the president also said at a press conference.

Locals who showed up at the protest said what was happening is tantamount to “election theft.”

They’re angry that the Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis’ victories are in question.

“It’s election theft,” one protester, Janet Klomburg, told Local10. “Our level of frustration is beyond what you can even imagine.”

On Nov. 9, around four box trucks showed up and blocked the public’s view of the election headquarters, Local10 reported.

“This is insane. All of this is insane,” Klomburg said. “It needs to be stopped. All of it needs to be stopped. I call for firing Brenda Snipes, getting rid of her whole crew and doing the election over without her being a part of it.”

Scott filed a lawsuit against officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties. “I will not stand idly by while unethical liberals try to steal an election,” Scott said, Florida Today reported.

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes said the unusually high turnout caused delays in the vote counting.

But in May 2016, a judge ruled that Broward officials had illegally destroyed ballots in a 2016 congressional race. In the August primaries, Broward was the last county to report results and claimed there were equipment problems.

“You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia–but the Election was on Tuesday?” Trump asked on Twitter. “Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!”

On Nov. 9, Rubio tweeted that under Florida law, a county has to upload by 7 p.m. a day before all early votes are tabulated and canvassed by the end of early voting and report the results within 30 minutes of the polls closing.

But in Broward County is still counting early votes “60 hours after that deadline,” and it’s the only county in Florida to do so, Rubio tweeted.
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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