Gov. Rick Scott suspended Broward County's Supervisor of Elections, Brenda Snipes, late Friday afternoon. He's appointed his former general counsel to finish out her term.
Peter Antonacci will take over the position until voters get a say in November 2020.
Snipes, had previously announced her resignation, after the week-long controversial election recounts earlier this month. That resignation would have been effective Jan. 4.
WLRN's Alexander Gonzalez spoke with WLRN's Broward County Reporter, Caitie Switalski, about what this means for Broward County voters.
WLRN: What do we know so far?
Switalski: We know that Governor Rick Scott appointed someone to take over for Supervisor of Elections, Brenda Snipes, in Broward County. He appointed someone new on Friday afternoon, and that is Peter Antonacci.
Who is Peter Antonacci?
So he's the president and CEO of the official economic development organization in a state, Enterprise Florida. He’s also the acting secretary of commerce, and he used to be the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District.
But what's really interesting is he knows Governor Scott really well. He was his general counsel from 2013 to 2015. And he also used to be the Palm Beach County state attorney. So, he's got a long resume in large administrative positions. He was actually raised in Hialeah and he went to FSU.
But Brenda's Snipes had already resigned,right?
She did. Actually immediately after the recount, she resigned effective January 4th - which is interesting because January 4th would have been after Gov. Scott left for the U.S. Senate, but before Governor Elect Ron DeSantis was to take office. So Gov. Scott is really sending a message by replacing her before he leaves office.
Where does that leave Brenda Snipes?
She is not Broward County supervisor of elections anymore she's been suspended and replaced and Peter Antonacci is going to be taking over the full last two years of her term. So instead of Ron DeSantis appointing someone new in January, this has been done and voters will get to decide if they want to keep Peter Antonacci or replace him with a different supervisor in 2020.
