Q&A – Florida’s New Office of Election Crimes & Security
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Gettr, Parler & Twitter: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: I have heard many times about the many cases of election fraud investigated by the election boards and referred for prosecution. Yet the county District Attorneys ignore them. I can understand this especially in Broward County, the Democrats don’t want to set a precedent that such fraud is against the law and thereby discouraging the continuation. Won’t that same thing happen with the new Election Commission? Suggest that maybe the Governor appoint a Special Prosecutor statewide to take the cases to court.
Bottom Line: From the time I started covering the story you’re referencing in early December, the 156 officially referred yet unprosecuted cases of voter fraud in Florida uncovered by the Public Interest Legal Foundation – I promised I wouldn’t give up on it. To your point, Broward (78) has the most referred yet unprosecuted voter fraud cases in Florida, followed by Miami-Dade (42) with Palm Beach County 4th (12). And as I’ve regularly discussed, not only has there been no progress on any of these cases – the state attorneys Harold Pryor, Katherine Fernandez-Rundle and Dave Aronberg have all refused to even comment on my requests for an explanation. For a time, I wanted to provide benefit of the doubt that politics wasn’t in play and there were other reasons for these cases having not been pursued. However nearly four months into my investigation into these cases and with zero cooperation by these elected state attorneys – all of whom are Democrats – a cynical view of this situation is as appropriate as any.
Now, to the crux of your note today, what’s to keep this new state office from ignoring voter fraud cases – same as the highly partisan South Florida Democrat state attorneys who refuse to be held accountable for their inaction on officially referred voter fraud cases? A lot actually. Before breaking down why this new Office of Election Crimes and Security will be different, here’s a quick reset on what it actually is... Here’s the language directly from the legislation:
The Office of Election Crimes and Security is created within the Department of State. The purpose of the office is to aid the Secretary of State in completion of his or her duties. Receiving and reviewing notices and reports generated by government officials or any other person regarding alleged occurrences of election law violations or election irregularities in this state. Initiating independent inquiries and conducting preliminary investigations into allegations of election law violations or election irregularities in this state. The office may review complaints and conduct preliminary investigations into alleged violations of the Florida Election Code or any rule adopted pursuant thereto and any election irregularities.
The secretary shall appoint a director of the office. The office shall be based in Tallahassee and shall employ nonsworn investigators to conduct any investigations. The positions and resources necessary for the office to accomplish its duties shall be established through and subject to the legislative appropriations process. The office shall oversee the department’s voter fraud hotline.
By January of each year, the department shall submit a report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives detailing information on investigations of alleged election law violations or election irregularities conducted during the prior calendar year. The report must include the total number of complaints received and independent investigations initiated and the number of complaints referred to another agency for further investigation or prosecution. For each alleged violation or irregularity investigated, the report must include: (a) The source of the alleged violation or irregularity; (b) The law allegedly violated or the nature of the irregularity reported; The county in which the alleged violation or irregularity occurred; (d) Whether the alleged violation or irregularity was referred to another agency for further investigation or prosecution, and if so, to which agency; and The current status of the investigation or resulting criminal case.
So, here’s what you probably picked up on. It's mandated by state law that the officials appointed to this new state agency investigate every officially referred case and specifically document to the Governor and both bodies of the state legislature- the results of their findings annually. So not only is it literally the job of these new officials to investigate all unpursued cases of alleged voter fraud in Florida, but they’d also be breaking the law themselves not to pursue them to completion. The referred but unpursued cases are a matter of public record so there’s no way even partisan or agenda driven officials in this new election crimes office could avoid the referred cases as has been the case with select state attorneys.
As noted, the office itself will be staffed and directed by the Secretary of State – who is appointed by the governor. Florida’s current Secretary of State is DeSantis appointee Laurel Lee. The state’s budget provided funding for 25 employees for this new agency which will include 10 administrative staffers and 15 investigators. With all of that info in hand, you’re probably able to see why it's rather certain this dedicated election integrity office will be different than the seemingly indifferent state attorneys who pretend voter fraud doesn’t exist...unless it’s a GOP voter registration group, trying to flip Democrat registrations to Republican registrations, that is.