Press Release, Monday, May 14th

 Deborah Dion 305-213-3165

Tim Canova wins lawsuit against Brenda Snipes,

Broward County Supervisor of Elections, for the illegal destruction of all original paper ballots in his August 2016 Democratic primary against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

On Friday, May 11^th, Circuit Court Judge Raag Singhal ruled that it was illegal for Brenda Snipes, the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, to destroy the original paper ballots cast in the August 30, 2016 primary between Tim Canova, a Nova Southeastern University law professor, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, in Florida’s 23^rd Congressional District.

The court’s ruling makes clear that Snipes’ destruction of ballots was illegal on several separate counts:

1. By federal and Florida statute, ballots in a federal election must be preserved for 22 months. The ballots were destroyed after only 12 months. Violations of the statute are punishable by up to a year in prison.
2. Documents that are the subject of legal proceedings cannot be destroyed without permission from the court. Mr. Canova filed a lawsuit on June 7, 2017 requesting to inspect and scan or copy the ballots. The ballots were destroyed on September 1, 2017, while this litigation was pending.
3. Canova had sought to inspect the original paper ballots under Florida’s public records law, as permitted for any citizen under the Florida Constitution. After three public records requests by election security journalist Lulu Friesdat, and months of stonewalling by Snipes, Canova joined the public records requests and filed suit. The court ruled that it was illegal for Snipes to refuse to produce the original paper ballots for inspection as public records and to refuse to allow copying and/or scanning of those ballots.

Snipes argued for a view of a political culture that is closed and anti-democratic -- a view that has been soundly rejected by the court. The ruling condemned Snipes’ misconduct and stated that her defenses were “without substance in fact or law.”

This judgment affirms the important role of public records requests “to allow Florida’s citizens to discover the actions of their government.”  As the court made clear, the Florida Constitution grants every person “the fundamental right” to inspect and copy public records and that this right is a “cornerstone of our political culture.”

The court’s order in Tim Canova v. Brenda Snipes, is attached. For background information on the case, please see: www.timcanova.com. For background information on Lulu Friesdat, please see: http://www.hollerbackfilm.com/team

Without the original paper ballots, and using only digital scanned images, elections experts we consulted say it is impossible to verify the results of our primary against Wasserman Schultz. There are an unfortunately large number of ways that the process could produce an incorrect ballot count. Ballots could have been lost or replaced before the scanning; ballot on demand machines could have produced extra ballots; some digital images could either accidentally or deliberately been repeated numerous times. Digital images themselves can be altered, and there is no convincing chain-of-custody evidence for these digital images. The process of creating them involved using third-party proprietary software, as well as assistance from a third-party vendor, Clear Ballot. Even the chain-of-custody documents for the original paper ballots were not filled out fully.

It is my view that the only lasting remedy requires legislation and a cultural shift: a reformed election system based on 100% paper ballots counted by hand in public would be one way to ensure truly transparent and verifiable elections. The original ballots could be scanned using open source software as a permanent backup, with ballot images and software open to public inspection. It is imperative that we improve chain-of-custody protocols. Ideally it would be best if elections are administered by non-partisan or trans-partisan officials.

I would like to thank the thousands of people in my district, the state of Florida, and around the country who have supported our efforts to inspect the ballots and prosecute this lawsuit in big and small ways. I am grateful for the many small donations to our campaign and for the support of those who have kept me in their thoughts and prayers and shared news of our fight during these challenging times.

This victory is not the end of this case. The court must still assess the damages in terms of legal costs and fees that were caused by the Supervisor’s illegal conduct.

We all need to be concerned about the ability of the Broward Supervisor to administer our elections accurately, securely, according to the law, and with the required transparency to give all voters confidence in the election results. We must demand integrity and transparency in our elections. I trust that the Florida Secretary of State’s ongoing investigation of the Broward Supervisor’s destruction of ballots will be concluded swiftly now that the court has reached a conclusive finding of illegal conduct and bad faith by Brenda Snipes, the Broward County Supervisor of Elections.