The Broward County Supervisor of Elections broke state and federal law by illegally destroying ballots cast in the 2016 Democratic congressional primary when Tim Canova faced off against incumbent Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schulz, a circuit court judge ruled Friday.

Canova, an independent candidate for Congress and founder of Progress for All, alleged in a 2017 lawsuit that Supervisor Brenda Snipes illegally obstructed his request to copy and inspect ballots, then improperly discarded thousands of ballots that made inspection of voting irregularities impossible.

Snipes signed a Sept. 1 document to destroy the ballots, without informing Canova or the court. Snipes contends her office made high-quality copies of the ballots.

Paper ballots should have been preserved by the office until 22 months after the election, according to longstanding federal election law and state public records law. Under state law, a public record sought in a court case is not permitted to be destroyed without a judge’s order.

Canova argued Scott should suspend Snipes for destroying the paper ballots while his lawsuit was ongoing.

TRENDING: BREAKING: Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees Release DEVASTATING Report on Hunter Biden, Burisma and Corruption -- CROOKED BIDEN FAMILY ENRICHED THEMSELVES AND OBAMA KNEW!

Broward Circuit Judge Raag Singhal agreed with Canova, ruling that Snipes ignored and illegally obstructed his request to copy and inspect the ballots. Florida’s Secretary of State plans to send an elections expert to Broward, the state’s second-largest county, during the upcoming elections to monitor the administration of upcoming elections in the county and “ensure that all laws are followed.”

We just won our lawsuit on summary judgment. Court ruled that Broward Supervisor of Elections illegally destroyed all paper ballots in our primary against @DWStweets. We are walking the walk on election Integrity & need your help now, small donations at https://t.co/93JqKJImOr pic.twitter.com/lgfLDpiMoo — Tim Canova (@Tim_Canova) May 14, 2018

Wasserman Schultz’s office contends it had nothing to do with Snipes’ decision to destroy the ballots.

Canova is also urging the FBI to investigate the results of the election, arguing that federal examination of the Democrat establishment’s corruption would potentially nullify the election that he believes was stolen.

“We’re trying to get the FBI to investigate but they seem uninterested at this point even though the ballot destruction violated federal law punishable by prison. I guess they’d rather chase Russian phantoms,” Canova told GWP in February. “Congress could investigate and the House could possibly nullify the stolen election, but I would not hold my breath waiting for that to happen.”

A Nova Southeastern University law professor, Canova ran against Wasserman Schultz as Democrat in 2014 and is running again for the scandal ridden former DNC chair’s seat in 2018 as an independent.

His decision to drop his Democratic Party affiliation was influenced by the actions of local and state Democratic Parties.

“It reached a tipping point dealing with the ballot destruction from my previous primary against [Wasserman Schultz]. We discovered during the course of litigating in our efforts to inspect the ballots…that the Broward Supervisor of Elections completely destroyed all of the paper ballots while the litigation was pending, and in violation of federal law,” Canova told IVN. “When the party could not be bothered with investigating ballot destruction that has undermined people’s faith and confidence in the integrity of the system, to me it just became intolerable.”

Canova has been slammed by left-leaning media outlets for calling attention to the unusual circumstances surrounding the July 10, 2016, murder of Seth Rich, the DNC voter-expansion data director who is rumored to have leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

RELATED: EXCLUSIVE=> Democrat Tim Canova on Wasserman Schultz: Corrupt Dems Cling to Office to Avoid Jail

Wasserman Schultz resigned as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee following revelations that she and other Democratic party officials were “conspiring to sabotage the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.”

The DNC and Wasserman Schultz are currently facing a class-action lawsuit filed by attorneys Elizabeth and Jared Beck on behalf of Bernie Sanders supporters who claim they sought to rig the election.

The scandal plagued Florida Democratic congresswoman is also the most forceful advocate and longtime employer of disgraced IT aide Imran Awan, who was busted trying to leave the country after defrauding the federal government and allegedly stealing data from an untold Democratic House members who hired him. Awan is currently on trial before a federal jury for conspiracy to commit bank fraud; false statements on a loan or credit application; unlawful monetary transactions; and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions.