Voter fraud few and far between in Florida
January 26th, 2017 by Mike VasilindaPresident Donald Trump is calling for a national investigation into voter fraud, but officials say it isn’t happening here.
Florida Democrats were quick to pounce on the President’s tweet, pointing out that the investigation should start with Trumps own Chief Strategist, who was registered in both New York and Sarasota. After the posting, Steve Banyon’s name was quickly removed from voter rolls in Sarasota.
Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon followed with this letter, calling on the Secretary of State to investigate.
“What I realized is that if there were voting irregularities, than that would mean he didn’t win, and if that’s the case, maybe they need to investigate” says the Senate Democratic leader.
Reports of voter fraud are few and far between, and every complaint is investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Just over twenty million votes were cast in Florida over the last two cycles. 13 companies were received by the Department of Law Enforcement.
Elections Supervisors downplayed the potential before the election.
“It would be virtually impossible” said Ron Labasky, who represents all 67 Supervisors in the Capitol.
And they stand by their statements. Senate Ethics and Elections Chair Kathleen Passidomo says there are no plans to open an investigation.
“We haven’t seen anything. We haven’t been asked to investigate” says Passidome. “I think he’s talking about other states perhaps. I haven’t heard him speak about any voter fraud he’s identified in Florida.”
In a statement the Secretary of State’s spokesperson said they office is not aware of widespread voter fraud and safeguards are in place to prevent it.
And Governor Rick Scott, who is ultimately responsible for how elections are run in Florida, is saying only that he is glad we had record turnout and a smooth election in November.
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