TAMPA, Fla. — Less than 24 hours after Governor Ron DeSantis introduced legal prices in opposition to 20 felons for illegally voting in 2020, the writer of a invoice that carried out the modification that gave some felons their rights pushed again.
Governor DeSantis introduced the fees Thursday afternoon and so they had been the primary main public transfer from DeSantis’ election police unit.
DeSantis mentioned the individuals charged had been convicted of homicide or a felony sexual offense and subsequently exempt from a constitutional modification that restores voting rights to some felons. He mentioned most of these charged had been from Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties, all Democratic strongholds. He launched few different particulars.
Tampa Bay Representative Jeff Brandes, who wrote the invoice that carried out Amendment 4, mentioned the intent of the invoice was to assist voters and that a few of these arrested complied with the legislation.
“As the author of the bill implementing amend (sic) 4 it was our intent that those ineligible would be granted some grace by the state if they registered without intent to commit voter fraud,” Brandes mentioned on Twitter. “Some of the individuals did check with SOEs and believed they could register. #Intentmatters”
As the writer of the invoice implementing amend 4 it was our intent that these ineligible could be granted some grace by the state in the event that they registered with out intent to commit voter fraud. Some of the people did verify with SOEs and believed they may register. #Intentmatters https://t.co/3IXmSuIpSe
— Jeff Brandes (@JeffreyBrandes) August 19, 2022
Voter fraud is uncommon, sometimes happens in remoted cases, and is mostly detected. An Associated Press investigation of the 2020 presidential election discovered fewer than 475 potential instances of voter fraud out of 25.5 million ballots forged within the six states the place Trump and his allies disputed his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
DeSantis has beforehand praised Florida for finishing up a clean election in 2020. The 20 individuals arrested had been amongst greater than 11 million Florida voters who forged ballots within the 2020 election, or roughly 0.0002% of the whole vote.
The Office of Election Crimes and Security was created as a part of a voting legislation package deal authorized by the GOP-controlled legislature earlier this yr. The unit evaluations fraud allegations and conducts preliminary investigations, with the legislation requiring the governor to nominate a gaggle of particular officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to pursue alleged violations.
Peter Antonacci, a former Broward County Supervisor of Elections tapped by DeSantis to guide the election police unit, mentioned extra voter fraud prices had been coming. Antonacci mentioned he’s “certain” there have been unlawful votes forged in a current Broward County congressional election determined by 5 votes. He supplied no further particulars.