Election officials in Florida uncovered a plot to register dozens of deceased people as Democratic voters in one of the state’s most populous counties.
An unidentified person reportedly submitted over 50 new voter applications earlier this year for voters in Broward County, Florida, who were elderly or had passed away.
Election officials deemed the applications, which were all filled out in the same neat handwriting, as suspicious and reported them to the Broward state attorney, who then launched an investigation in August to apprehend the perpetrator.
“Though officials said no mail-in ballots were requested or cast under the falsified voter IDs, the scheme exposes weaknesses in Florida’s voter registration process, which relies partially on the honor system,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported, which was tipped about suspicious voter ID cards by a Florida resident who alerted a Republican state committeeman in Broward County.
“This is an organized effort by someone who knew a little bit about Florida law but not a lot and had a scheme to either undermine the Florida registration system with fake voters or intended to vote 50 times,” Broward Elections Supervisor Peter Antonacci said.
Antonacci added that there is a lag time between when a voter dies and elections officials are notified, of which the scammer attempted to take advantage.
“This is one of the weaknesses,” Antonacci said. “The system is based on the honor system, and the honor system is supposedly bolstered by the fact that if you lie on one of these applications, it’s a crime. With determination, you can muscle your way in.”
Voter fraud concerns have been raised across the country as many states have shifted toward increased mail-in voting to combat the possible spread of the coronavirus at polling places.
Republicans, most notably President Trump, have argued that the mail-in voting process is susceptible to fraud, while prominent Democrats have insisted that voter fraud is a “myth.”
