Florida’s new election crimes office flags leftwing ballot-harvesting operation in Orlando
from the because-it-works dept
The Florida election crimes unit is tasked with identifying and arresting illegal ballots from election day. They’ve been getting this task done for many years, but this year, as election fraud has become an issue in Florida, the unit has begun to focus on one particular fraud: ballot harvesting.
[S]enators from five different states were targeted in a ballot harvesting scheme this year. In the wake of this effort, state Elections Canvassing Board Chairman Mark Johnson said Friday the board will begin an investigation into the allegations. It is the first ballot harvesting case that lawmakers and the courts must address.
State law says all ballots must be counted and rejected if they are cast illegally. Voters must also vote in the correct precinct on Election Day. The law only says that an illegal ballot cannot be counted for purposes of determining whether the voter was eligible to cast a ballot.
The Orlando Sentinel reports (emphasis added):
An Orange County election official said Thursday that he was not surprised that a team of operatives in Florida, who were looking for ways to turn out voter populations in GOP strongholds, were trying to collect and transfer ballots from as many as 500 voters to make sure they were eligible to cast their ballot on Election Day. When he was informed of the matter last week, he said he was more than willing to help.
“I’ll tell you the Florida election crimes unit is very good at following the law and they are very good at catching these things and prosecuting them,” said Orange County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeff Golden, who noted that voters are never charged with voter fraud, and the unit is one of the best in the country at investigating those crimes.
But he said he is troubled that the workers at the ballot harvesting operation in Florida were taking so many steps to ensure that voters were already registered, and thus ineligible, to vote.
“I was very disappointed it was done that way,” Golden said.
In fact, the person who runs the operation has an unusual “no excuses” philosophy. And that makes things easier in the prosecution of those who try to take advantage of the law using the “you’re in or you’re out” principle. But when you find the person, and are going to turn him in, he gets