More often than naught Broward County, Fla., where I serve as GOP State Committeeman, makes headlines during election season — and not for good reasons. Broward County’s elections department has a history of malfeasance, and that malfeasance is playing out on the national stage today.

Tuesday night, Republicans across the state of Florida celebrated Gov. Rick Scott’s victory in the Senate race and Ron DeSantis’ successful gubernatorial race. However, Broward County’s Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes had other plans for the state. Her team was counting ballots past a mandatory reporting deadline, and would soon after “discover” bags and boxes of ballots left behind in the back of cars, school classrooms, and elsewhere, completely disregarding the chain of custody which secures these votes as legitimate.

As the clock continues to tick, Snipes has refused to report how many ballots are left to be counted, subverting the will of the people by following her own rules which break the rule of law, and specifically Florida’s constitution. Of course, this is not the first time Broward’s SOE has played games with democracy.

In 2000, we were a part of the hanging chads fiasco. And more recently, in 2014 and 2016, a slew of violations took place by the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office.

This includes how, in 2014, citizens showed up to the polls to vote but were told they already had ( they hadn’t). Or in 2016, when Snipes was reprimanded for opening and sorting tens of thousands of mail-in ballots in private without the supervision of a required canvassing board.

It also includes how Snipes oversaw the “illegal destruction” of ballots (a court found she broke the law and Snipes ended up paying $150,000 in lawyers’ fees and court costs.) It also includes how in 2016, some ballots left off one of the most highly anticipated amendments so that voters couldn’t vote for the issue.

And that's not the half of it. Two years ago, Snipes was accused of firing a staffer who witnessed her and her staff participating in the illegal activity of filling in blank ballots in a back room. Poll workers also alleged that mentally handicapped persons were being taken advantage of so that caretakers could vote their ballots without consent; the Broward SOE refused to acknowledge complaints from poll workers and kept on with business as usual.

As recently as August, during the primaries, Snipes’ office screwed up again. A counting error changed the outcome of at least one race before being caught and fixed.

Whether due to corruption or incompetence, Broward’s elections are not secure, and the people of Broward do not have faith in the election process. On Friday, hundreds of Broward citizens rallied outside the Lauderhill SOE office, chanting “no fake votes” and “Brenda Snipes has got to go!”

Snipes seems to have no interest in providing fair and ethical elections to the people of Broward County. Gov. Scott and the people of Broward County are right to be skeptical and want immediate relief from her actions.

For everyone concerned about “election meddling,” Broward County seems to be full of it. And for those worried about voter suppression, that’s taking place in liberal Broward County, too. The will of the people is being subverted by Snipes' illegal practices and sadly, the fate of Florida hangs in the balance of Brenda Snipes' circus.

Richard DeNapoli is a GOP State Committeeman from Broward County, Fla.