Election fraud investigations are ongoing in several Florida counties, Politico reported Tuesday.
Dozens of potentially illegal 2020 election voters appear to have been flagged in counties that include Alachua, Duval, Gadsden, Leon, and Lake, Politico reported.
The voters who have been flagged appear to be people with felony convictions who remained disqualified from voting even after the passage of Amendment 4, which in 2018 lifted the state's lifetime ban for most felons.
Some of Amendment 4's implementation was delayed by a subsequent law and an ensuing legal battle. The Department of State began to examine voter rolls in October 2020.
"It is quite possible that some individuals who voted in the 2020 General Election had not satisfied all legal financial obligations or were otherwise ineligible under the parameters of the restoration of voting rights framework," Mallory Morgan, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Laurel Lee, told Politico.
"Eligibility screening continues without ceasing and the Department is hopeful that new FTE [full-time equivalent] positions sought in this year's budget will assist with this work, which expanded significantly in terms of time and complexity following the passage of Amendment 4 in 2018."
The probes were initiated following complaints filed by Mark Glaeser, a Gainesville database researcher who cross-checked voter lists and lists of convicted sex offenders. He also reviewed ineligible people housed in the Alachua County jail.
Politico said the investigations were in varying stages, with some county supervisors forwarding information to local prosecutors, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or handing it off to the Department of State.
Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox told Politico that his office looked at two voters, but one person registered in 2018 and never voted. The other voter, whose judgment occurred in 2018, voted in the 2020 primary but not the general election.
Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers passed voting law legislation that would create the nation's first police force dedicated to pursuing election crimes, The Washington Post reported.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., had proposed the plan for an elections police force, though the governor's version was watered down before the bill was approved, the Post said.
DeSantis requested nearly $6 million to hire 52 people, including sworn officers, to investigate alleged violations of elections laws. Instead, the GOP-led House and Senate gave him nearly $2.5 million for the new Office of Election Crimes and Security.
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