PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Brenda Snipes, who was Broward County’s former supervisor of elections for about 15 years, died on Thursday. She was 80.
Melanie Snipes Thomas, of Atlanta, one of her two daughters, said Snipes died of complications with a short illness.
Snipes, who was born in Alabama’s city of Talladega, moved to Florida in the 1960s, and she earned her doctoral degree from Nova Southeastern University.
Snipes’s long career in public service included 39 years with Broward County Public Schools. She was a Blanche Ely High School teacher, a Robert Markham Elementary School principal, and an administrator.
Snipes had retired when Gov. Jeb Bush appointed her as Broward County’s supervisor of elections in 2003 and she was last reelected in 2016.
After the controversial 2018 elections, Snipes resigned and filed a lawsuit after Gov. Rick Scott suspended her. Gov. Ron DeSantis accepted her resignation in 2019.
Joe Scott, the current supervisor of elections for Broward County and her elected successor, said she did a lot of good work and made many improvements to the elections office.
Thomas Snipes did not specify the nature of the illness. Snipes is also survived by her husband, Walter Snipes, her daughter Derrice Snipes-Hakeem, her two grandchildren, and her two sons-in-law.
This is a developing story.