[National Review] Florida’s Republican state Senate president told colleagues Thursday that embattled Broward County elections supervisor Brenda Snipes cannot rescind her previously announced resignation in order to contest her suspension by Governor Rick Scott.Snipes, whose office missed a crucial recount deadline and misplaced 2,000 ballots in the recent midterm elections, immediately tendered her resignation, effective January 4, once the elections’ recounts were concluded. She subsequently rescinded her resignation after Scott issued an executive order in which he argued she deserved to be suspended due to misfeasance, incompetence, and neglect of duty.
In a memo sent to his colleagues Thursday morning, Senate president Bill Galvano said Snipes’s resignation would take effect before the legislature had time to investigate the circumstances behind her suspension and determine if it was justified. As a result, Galvano said, the Senate would not allow her resignation to be rescinded.
The memo does, however, leave open the possibility that Snipes might challenge her suspension in court or request a suspension hearing before the Senate, which could result in her receiving back pay from November 30, 2018 through her resignation date of July 4, 2019.