Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’s new “Office of Election Crimes and Security” has identified 20 cases of suspected voting fraud since going into business on July 1, The Hill reported on Wednesday, August 18, 2022 (read story here).
All of the cases are from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami Dade counties, and involve ex-felons. “The state of Florida does not allow convicts of serious crimes including homicide and sexual assault to retain voting rights,” The Hill said, noting all 20 individuals were convicted of murder or sexual assault.
DeSantis said they’re “in the process” of being arrested and charged. It remains to be seen if they’re guilty, even voted, or their votes were counted. For example, the investigators might confuse John Smith Sr. at XYZ address, who voted legally, with John Smith Jr. at the same address, a paroled murderer who didn’t vote; it’s known this kind of misidentification happens when Florida purges its voter rolls.
But let’s assume for our purposes here that all these people were ineligible to vote, they voted, their votes were counted, and they all voted for Biden. (Those three counties have large minority populations, and went for Biden.) By the official certified tally, Trump won Florida by 371,686 votes, and won Florida’s electoral votes. This would mean Trump won Florida by 20 more votes, i.e. by 371,706 votes. (That’s before subtracting votes cast by his Florida supporters who voted twice, details here.)
Which proves the 2020 election was stolen by voting fraud, no?
No, it doesn’t.
But it’s still important to enforce voting laws, just as it’s important to enforce our classified government secrets laws, so going after these vote thieves is worth the expenditure of investigative and prosecutorial resources; and if they’re convicted they should get the same harsh punishments these vote thieves did, because their crime is nothing less than stealing our democracy.
Namely, pay $400 of court costs, do 50 hours of community service, and pass a 12-hour civics class with a “C” grade to get the voting fraud convictions wiped off their records (details here). But wanna bet they won’t get off that easy if they’re convicted of voting while black?
Update (8/20/22): A closer look at the 20 individuals reveals those arrests are tainted and charges won’t (or shouldn’t) hold up in court. Florida voters passed a state constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to ex-felons; and without more, they would be entitled to vote. But the legislature carved out exceptions for ex-felons convicted of murder, sex crimes, or still owing court-ordered fines. Even if that law didn’t violate the state constitution amendment, it created confusion. Several of these individuals were told by election officials they could register to vote. Intent is an element of fraud crimes; so unless Florida’s election crime statutes provide for strict liability — i.e., eliminate the intent element — these people likely are innocent. Read story here. These cases present troubling similarities to that of Crystal Mason in Texas (details here). And don’t be surprised if many or most of them are black or minorities.