Sun-Sentinel - Sept. 1, 2008, by Akilah Johnson


CANDIDATE BARRED FROM OBSERVING RECOUNT

At least one person was disappointed she didn't get to see Broward County elections officials finish hand-counting 95,855 ballots in a judicial race Sunday in Lauderhill.

Ellen H. Brodsky, an unaffiliated candidate challenging incumbent Brenda Snipes for supervisor of elections in the Nov. 4 general election, said she arrived about 2 p.m., driver's license in hand, to be an election observer.

Exactly what happened next is disputed. Brodsky says she was disenfranchised; elections staffers say she was disruptive. They agree on this: Brodsky was banned from the building, unable to see Mardi Anne Levey win a runoff spot for Group 3, Broward Circuit Court.

"I've been sitting in the parking lot all afternoon," Brodsky said during a cell phone call to the Sun Sentinel from outside the elections warehouse. After the manual recount, Levey nudged past Pedro E. Dijols, her competitor for the judicial post, by a final tally of 72 votes to snag second place. The top vote-getter on Tuesday was Bernard Isaac Bober.