With the recent municipal election complete, the Seminole County body tasked with certifying that votes were property counted, on Wednesday chose to table a decision until 2024 about whether to continue to retain the services of its attorney amid concern raised by Supervisor of Elections Chris Anderson.
In a heated discussion following hours of counting mail ballots days before the Nov. 7 election, Anderson called for Attorney Phil Kaprow’s removal as lawyer for the Seminole County canvassing board. Anderson said he did not trust Kaprow, who also formerly served as the attorney for Anderson’s office, to act in his best interest. For that reason, Anderson no longer wants Kaprow to serve the canvassing board, of which Anderson is a member.
The call for Kaprow’s removal came after the attorney wrote a letter to the Department of State raising concern over what he considered to be signs of “incompetence” in Anderson’s office. Anderson said Kaprow’s claim was inaccurate and triggered state scrutiny when officials from the Division of Elections announced plans to send observers to monitor the election. He said they found no issues.
At the time, the canvassing board chose to keep Kaprow through the election.
Judge Carsandra Buie, canvassing board chair, said she wrote a letter to the Division of Elections on Tuesday and requested an advisory opinion on how the board should resolve the conflict and asked for clarification on who — county government officials or the canvassing board members — was responsible for hiring and firing legal representation. Buie said she asked for a response by March so the issue can be resolved before the 2024 presidential primary on March 19.
“In my experience with the state and advisories, especially in an election year, they don’t like to rock the boat,” Anderson said, asking what the board would do if it receives no response from the state by March.
Kaprow spent three years as attorney for both the canvassing board and Anderson’s office until he resigned from his role as counsel for with the Supervisor of Elections office in September. The resignation came shortly after Anderson claimed in social media posts that he had been facing racism from other Seminole County officials and Republican Party leaders since his first day on the job when he was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019.
Kate Latorre, Seminole County attorney, said her office asked Kaprow to continue as counsel for the canvassing board after he resigned from the other role because she wanted to ensure that the board was adequately represented before last week’s election. She added that there was enough time before the next election cycle to train another lawyer in her office to take on the role if Kaprow’s and Anderson’s relationship continued to sour.
Anderson, who days before the election said he did not feel he could continue to do his job with Kaprow as attorney for the canvassing board, was amenable to a county attorney taking over the role.
Buie said if the state Division of Elections responds with an advisory opinion, that would be considered when the board votes again. If not, the board will move forward with a decision ahead of the 2024 primary. Anderson said making a decision prior to the election will be important as he expects a busy election season next year.
“These issues have presented themselves here in a very small election,” he said. “Next year is going to be a very, very busy election time. … These issues are not something that we can avoid.”
Buie said she has no intention of letting the decision linger beyond March.
“I will not ‘kick the can down the road’ so to speak,” Buie said. “Before the 2024 elections start, I would like to address this issue and make sure that it is taken care of so that there will not be any interruption in the middle of the election cycle.”
A date has not yet been set for the March meeting.
![National Weather Service experts warned Wednesday that the rise of a potent, global climate bully has set the stage for violent weather and killer tornadoes in Central Florida from now until spring. With one occurring every few to seven years at varying strengths, an El Niño climate phase is taking shape as among the stronger on record and is forecast to have a high probability of ushering powerful storm systems across the Gulf of Mexico into the Orlando region and other parts of Florida through March. National Weather Service officials said conditions in place put Central Florida at a comparable […]](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FLORIDA-TORNADOES.jpg?w=534 "National Weather Service experts warned Wednesday that the rise of a potent, global climate bully has set the stage for violent weather and killer tornadoes in Central Florida from now until spring. With one occurring every few to seven years at varying strengths, an El Niño climate phase is taking shape as among the stronger on record and is forecast to have a high probability of ushering powerful storm systems across the Gulf of Mexico into the Orlando region and other parts of Florida through March. National Weather Service officials said conditions in place put Central Florida at a comparable […]")
