A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case.
The ruling by a Miami judge may now pave the way for similar motions and rulings in the other 19 election fraud cases, which garnered national attention and controversy when they were announced on Aug. 18. DeSantis said at the time that they were the “opening salvo” by Florida’s newly funded Office of Election Crimes and Security to crack down on voter fraud.
Wood was facing up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines and fees, for allegedly illegally voting in the 2020 election. But a judge found on Friday that the statewide prosecutor did not have jurisdiction over one case in Miami. In order for the statewide prosecutor to have jurisdiction, the crimes alleged must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits.
State prosecutors argued that the crimes were committed in Leon County in addition to Miami Dade County, because\the defendants’ applications and votes were later transmitted to the Department of State in Tallahassee. The defense argued the alleged offenses only happened in Miami Dade. The judge found with the defense, which argued that the act of applying to vote, and voting only occurred in Miami Dade. All 20 cases are being prosecuted by the statewide prosecutor.
Like FloriDUH, TN has done similar in disenfranchising their people who have felony convictions from voting: While many states have made it easier for people convicted of felonies to vote, Tennessee has gone in the other direction (https://www.propublica.org/article/tennessee-black-voters-disenfranchised?utm_source=pocket-newtab)
There is a cultural slant to the article, but the overall point is blocking people to vote post-conviction.
Of course, the reason the statewide prosecutor was assigned in the first place is because Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the Miami-Dade elected State Attorney, who is a reasonable person and a moderate, won’t prosecute the cases from Miami. They will have trouble with the elected State Attorneys in Orange County and some other counties as well.
When I was doing the Snowbird thing between Pennsylvania, and Florida I was registered to vote in Pennsylvania and voted there.
It is wrong not to let a citizen of the United States no matter what their crime should be excluded to vote.
Even if they want to exclude us from local state elections, we should be able to vote in the national elections.
DeSantis and his gestapo minions at work. Glad this is blowing up in his narsaccitic face. Will we hear anything about this on the news? Will it have any ramifications? I seriously doubt it.
I too have voted, even on Parole. My conviction was in Michigan as well. I transferred to Florida and never heard, read, or was told by ANY ONE that my right to vote was ” remove” or that I would be convicted of ” voter Fraud” if I did. After reading about those people being arrested for voting…I was very concerned that I was on that list too…But now I breathe a little bit easier.
Happy to hear this. I hope we hear this 19 more times. I don’t think anyone should loose their right to vote in the first place.
So how do I find out if I’m still eligible to vote? Adjudication was withheld in my case.
If you never lost your voting rights, you should still be eligible. Call your County’s Supervisor of Elections (You can find them here: https://www.myfloridaelections.com/Contact-your-SOE) and ask.
Ben, call DeSantis’ office. (850) 717-9337
If I called DeSantis office I’m probably going to say some things that might actually get me arrested. So that’s probably not a good idea. I drive by his house everyday though.. do I want to go take a crap on his lawn? Absolutely I’m just not that dumb.
Get it in writing too. Texas threw a woman in prison even though her parole officer had assured her that she could vote.
I’ve found that the 3 branches(parole, state police, and the therapist) cover us don’t know what that the other side is doing. None of them know all the laws and parameters. How can we expected to know them all, too.
I will add that several of the national news organizations correctly commented that the whole thing is just a propaganda stunt pushed by DeSantis. How does someone claim to be protecting democracy, when people who have already served their punishment for a crime are denied the right to vote? Here in Michigan I was allowed to vote even while on parole. However, there are certainly people in the state legislature planning ways on taking away that right in the future.