FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A judge has sided with Gov. Rick Scott in a lawsuit against Broward County's elections supervisor.
By 7 p.m. Friday, Broward Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes must provide public records of voting activity sought by Scott's campaign for U.S. Senate, Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips ruled.
Snipes also must share documents that show the actual amount of ballots cast, the number of ballots counted and how many are still to be counted, all requests made in Scott's complaint.
"This court finds once again Broward County is under the microscope and being viewed by the entire nation," Phillips said. "Hearing argument, this court finds that there has been a violation of the Florida Constitution, the Florida statute public records act and pursuant to the applicable case law.
At 3:30 p.m. there were roughly 3,000 ballot pages in the process of being tabulated in Broward County, said Joe D'Alessandro of the Broward elections office.
That included 2,100 mail-in ballot pages that had been reviewed by the canvassing board, "tens" of unscanned early voting ballots, and overseas and military ballots that have an extended time period to arrive, D'Alessandro said.
Earlier Friday, protesters assembled outside Snipes' office and called for her to be imprisoned. About 75 Republican supporters chanted "lock her up," "bye, bye Brenda," and "stop the steal."
Scott holds a 15,030-vote lead over incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in the race for Senate, a margin that has continued to narrow since Election Day.
