Snipes easily wins primary denying Oliphant's political comeback

BY ERIKA BOLSTAD AND DARRAN SIMON

ebolstad@herald.com


Democratic voters firmly denied Miriam Oliphant's bid to take back her job as Broward Supervisor of Elections.

Oliphant, 50, who was suspended by Gov. Jeb Bush for incompetence last November, trailed Brenda Snipes and community activist Jamie Bloodworth by a large margin. Snipes, who was appointed by Bush to replace Oliphant, will go on to face Republican Steve Shin in the general election.

Snipes said she felt ''validated'' by her landslide victory. ''A lot of people tagged me as some kind of pawn, some people tried to make my appointment by the governor a negative thing,'' Snipes said Tuesday night. ``Now I can say I'm appointed and elected.''

Snipes, 61, has overseen two successful elections since she took over the office in November. Under her leadership, the office stabilized for the first time since the 2000 presidential recount and the troubled 2002 primary election.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/9547811.htm

I'm not saying that all of Oliphant's troubles in 2000 or 2002 were her fault (mixed message from Glenda Hood's office for instance), but she was the Supervisor of Elections and she should have kept veteran employees.

wheather or not she would be fired if she didn't get her act together. Fortunately the voters have solved this problem.