Q&A of the Day – How much voter fraud takes place in Florida?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter: @brianmuddradio
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Today’s entry: Hi Brian, How many dead people, illegal aliens and unqualified felons do you think have voted by mail in this election? People who have voted by mail state there is no corruption because they can track their vote and verify it was counted. But that's not the question I'm asking them. They refuse to think about this situation. Just posing a hypothetical question to you. (and venting) Thanks.
Bottom Line: Voter fraud has been and will continue to be a hot button topic regardless of what type of an election cycle we’re in. The reason is simple. With high stakes, some dishonest people in the mix and room for opportunity – fraud will always be a threat. Sadly voter fraud, like many other important issues that never should have been politized, has been. Because of this there’s a narrative on the left that voter fraud is essentially non-existent and on the right that it’s pervasive. The answer unsurprisingly is in-between. I will start out by stating the threat is real and we’ve at times had a front row seat to impropriety in Broward and Palm Beach County. I made it a personal mission to ensure both Susan Bucher and Brenda Snipes were sent packing after their numerous unlawful actions as election supervisors in 2018. If you weren’t around for my series depicting their unlawful behaviors here’s a link to the stories for Booker & Snipes. But there’s a difference between their outright illegal voter tabulations/loss of control of ballots and outright fraudulently created ballots. The only action committed by either election’s supervisor which was outright fraud was when Brenda Snipes literally placed ballots disqualified by the Broward canvassing board into a batch of valid votes to be tabulated (which they were). While their unlawful behaviors resulted in their removals of office by Governor’s Scott & DeSantis, it’s worth noting neither was prosecuted for voter fraud. So, about that...
Here’s the legal definition of voter fraud (aka Electoral fraud): illegal interference with the process of an election. It can come in many forms. These are them:
- Double Voting
- Dead Voters
- Felon Voters
- Voter Suppression
- Registration Fraud
- Voter Impersonation
- Vote-buying
- Fraud by election officials
- Ballot Harvesting
Of course, in accounting for how much voter fraud has occurred, we can only operate within the realm of what’s been proven. Nationally there have been 14 people successfully prosecuted for voter fraud this year. You’ll probably be happy to hear none have occurred in Florida. The cases of proved voter fraud this year have occurred in:
- Arizona (1)
- California (8)
- Louisiana (1)
- New Mexico (2)
- Virginia (1)
- West Virginia (1)
And of these proven instances of voter fraud in 2020, here’s the method attempted to carry out the unlawful votes:
- Ballot petition fraud (8)
- Fraudulent use of absentee/vote by mail ballots (3)
- False Registrations (1)
- Illegal ballot translation “assistance” of votes (1)
- Ineligible voting (1)
So, there you go. You might have been venting and asking a somewhat rhetorical question, but I have answers to the extent they’re available. Of course, the question will always be how much more is there than what’s detected? That’s a good question. But here’s the slightly better news. Notice that of the six states with prosecuted voter fraud this year, three are traditional blue states and three are traditional red states. Officials on both sides of the political spectrum were interested in prosecuting the fraud they were presented with this year, including 12 of the prosecuted cases coming in states with a democrat governor.
What we are able to tell about the preferred methods this cycle, based on what’s been successfully prosecuted, is that attempting to “buy” votes (that’s what ballot petition fraud is), has been the most pervasive form detected – followed by yes, illegally voted ballots by mail. In Florida, we haven’t had a successfully prosecuted case of voter fraud since the 2018 cycle. Hopefully it remains that way due to fewer people attempting to illegally vote. To your point, it’s wrong for anyone to suggest voter fraud isn’t a problem. The facts I just shared with you empirically prove it is. Additionally, the fact that Broward and Palm Beach County’s election’s supervisors were removed from office due to unlawful behaviors is further evidence of misfeasance last election cycle here at home. At the same time, it’s not so pervasive that we can’t generally trust the integrity of our elections based on what’s known and what’s been prosecuted – especially in Florida. We have some of the strongest measures in place to help prevent it (voter ID, no ballot harvesting, hard deadlines for returning ballots, etc.). Rest assured I’ll be minding the store on this topic again for the entire cycle.