Brenda Calhoun Snipes (October 24, 1943 – November 2, 2023) was an American public official who was the Supervisor of Elections for Broward County, Florida.

[1] On November 30, 2018, in the aftermath of the controversial 2018 Florida elections, Snipes was removed from office by Governor Rick Scott.

In an official statement by Scott, he stated her suspension was due to her failure to maintain order within her office and complaints of malfeasance.

[2] Snipes held a press conference the following day, in which she stated that she rescinds her resignation and plans to fight her suspension.

On November 20, 2003, Snipes was appointed supervisor of elections for Broward County by Governor Jeb Bush to take over from her predecessor, Miriam Oliphant, after Oliphant was removed from office for irregularities and fraud in the handling of ballots in the 2000 United States presidential election in that county.

County election officials said that approximately 58,000 absentee ballots were delivered to the Postal Service to be mailed to voters, but the Post Office claimed to have never received them.

Incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz ran against Tim Canova, an ally of Bernie Sanders, to become the Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 23rd Congressional District.

However, Broward County prosecutors declined to process, stating, "There is insufficient evidence that anyone purposely intended to post any elections results prior to the closing of the polls.

"[14] When analysis showed that the results were statistically "implausible," documentary filmmaker Lulu Friesdat requested to examine ballots.

[12] On September 1, 2017, while litigation was ongoing, Snipes signed an order authorizing the destruction of 688 boxes containing the ballots.

[18] The Thursday following the election, a teacher found a box marked "provisional ballots" that had been left at a school used as a polling place.

[20] Florida law states that county election departments must release the total number of ballots counted within 30 minutes of poll closings to facilitate accountability and oversight.

After the election, current Governor and then U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate.

[22] On November 18, 2018, almost two weeks after election day, Scott was declared the winner, officially becoming Senator-elect after Bill Nelson's concession.

[24] Peter Antonacci,[25] [26] president and CEO of the state’s business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida, was appointed by Scott to serve the remainder of Snipes’ term, until a replacement could be chosen by voters in November 2020.