A judge overturned the results in the 2020 Eatonville Town Council Seat 4 election after finding that votes had been improperly cast. On election night, the initial vote tally was 262 votes for Marlin Daniels and 253 votes for Tarus Mack. After counting provisional ballots, the vote tally was 262 for Daniels and 261 for Mack, leaving a margin of one vote. Following a recount, two additional uncounted votes were discovered, both for Mack, leading him to be declared the winner. During a bench trial, evidence was presented that one of the two “discovered” ballots was not cast by the alleged voter, and that another voter was coerced by former Mayor Anthony Grant (who was convicted of voter fraud in an unrelated case) to vote for Mack, by suggesting that he would forgive overdue rental payments and not evict the voter if he voted for Mack. The judge ruled that those two votes should have been excluded from the vote tally, and declared Daniels to be the winner of the election to the Eatonville Town Council Seat 4 position. Florida. 2021. Election Overturned. Judicial Finding. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Cheryl Hall, a Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, falsely submitted at least voter registrations in which she altered the party affiliation from Democrat to either Republican or no party affiliation in connection with the 2020 presidential primary election. The discrepancy with the voter registration forms was discovered by a county election supervisor noticed that several of the forms had identical handwriting; several of the voters also complained to the Supervisor of Elections that their party affiliation had been changed without their consent. Hall pleaded no contest to 10 felony charges of submitting false voter registration information and was sentenced to 1 year of supervised release and fined $723. Florida. 2021. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Douglas Hornsby, of Miami-Dade County, was found to have illegally registered and voted, and to have improperly held public office, despite being ineligible due to a prior drug felony. In 1992, Hornsby was convicted in Tennessee of felony cocaine possession. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Florida, where state law required felons to petition to have their rights restored. Nevertheless, when Hornsby filed voting registration paperwork, he indicated that he had no prior record, and, as a result, was able to vote for a quarter-century. He even secured appointment to the North Bay Village Commission. When his prior felony record was exposed, he was remove from office. County officials similarly deemed him ineligible to vote and removed him from the voter rolls. Florida. 2018. False Registrations. Official Finding. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Spiro Colaitis, of Nassau County, New York, voted twice in the 2016 general election: once in New York, and once in Escambia County, Florida. Colaitis, a registered Republican, no longer resided in Florida. He was charged with felonious duplicate voting and pleaded no contest,. The court withheld adjudication, sentenced Colaitis to 24 months of probation, and ordered him to pay $518 in court costs. Florida. 2018. Duplicate Voting. Diversion Program. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Walter Hoback, of Flagler County, registered to vote as a Republican and voted in the 2016 election despite being a convicted felon. Hoback was charged with perjury and voting by an unqualified voter, pleaded no contest to both, and was sentenced to serve one day in jail, with credit for one day served. He was also ordered to pay $618 in fees. Florida. 2018. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Victoria Stallings, of Flagler County, was convicted of felonies in 1983, 1994, and 1997. Her voting rights were restored after the first conviction, but not after her subsequent felonies. Nevertheless, she attempted to register to vote in 2008 and was rejected, but succeeded four years later, and was able to cast a ballot in 2016. She was charged with perjury and voting by an unqualified voter, pleaded no contest to the unqualified voting charge. and was sentenced to 24 months of administrative probation (to be shortened if she completed her GED) and ordered to pay $668 in fees. Florida. 2018. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Jennifer Scott, of Flagler County, is a felon who was ineligible to vote under Florida law. Nevertheless, in 2016, she fraudulently swore she was eligible to vote on her voter registration application and cast a ballot in that election. She was charged with perjury and voting by an unqualified voter, and pleaded no contest. Scott initially was placed on probation for 24 months, but shortly thereafter violated the terms of probation and was sentenced to serve 180 days in the county jail, with a credit of 147 days. Florida. 2018. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Bret Warren, of Casselberry, entered a plea of nolo-contendere to two third-degree felony voter fraud charges. Warren’s fraud was uncovered when five residents of Altamonte Springs noted they had not received their absentee ballots for the 2016 presidential election. The ballots had nonetheless been returned, and were filled out and signed. Investigators matched fingerprints on the envelope to Warren through a federal database, and DNA obtained from the envelope also matched Warren. Warren was charged with two counts of felony false swearing in connection with voting or elections, and after pleading nolo-contendere was sentenced to 154 days’ imprisonment with credit for time served, and ordered to pay $468 in fees and court costs. Florida. 2018. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Deszi Marquis Hayes, an inmate at the Indian River County Jail, voted by mail from jail during the 2016 election. Hayes was serving a nine-month sentence following a felony traffic conviction, and Florida state law does not permit convicted felons to vote. Nevertheless, Hayes was able to request and cast a ballot because the process to remove him from the voter rolls had not yet been completed. Florida. 2017. Ineligible Voting. Official Finding. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Mia Antoinette Nowells, a campaign worker for former Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant, was found guilty of coercing Layota Jackson to vote for Grant in the 2015 election. Nowells was charged with intimidating voters and tampering with absentee ballots. She was sentenced to two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service. Florida. 2017. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Gladys Coego, a temporary worker in the Miami-Dade County elections department during the November 2016 election, pleaded guilty to filling out the mail-in ballots of other voters in favor of Republican mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado. While she admitted to altering the ballots of at least two individuals, detectives believe that Coego likely fraudulently marked numerous other absentee ballots. She was sentenced to two years of house arrest. Florida. 2017. Altering the Vote Count. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Former Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant was convicted of a felony voting fraud charge, a felony election violation, and misdemeanor absentee voting violations. During the 2015 election while he was running for election, he coerced absentee voters to cast ballots for him. In at least one case, Grant personally solicited an absentee vote from a non-resident of Eatonville. Grant, who had previously served as mayor, lost the in-person vote, but still won the election with more than twice the number of absentee ballots than were cast for incumbent Bruce Mount. Following his indictment, Grant was suspended by Florida Governor Rick Scott. He was sentenced to 400 hours of community service and four years’ probation. Florida. 2017. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Alba Fernandez successfully registered to vote using the name Bunny Kohn, a false name. Fernandez voted under the false alias three times by absentee ballot in 2016. She also voted three times under her legal name, once in-person and twice by absentee ballot. She pleaded no contest to three counts of casting more than one ballot in an election and one count of submitting false voter registration information, which are all felony charges. Fernandez was sentenced to 4 years of probation and fined $518. Florida. 2017. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
William Hazard, 53, of West Boynton, pleaded guilty to one felony voter registration charge and three misdemeanor charges of attempting to submit false voter registration information. He was initially charged with multiple counts of false voter registration. He was sentenced to 10 days in the county jail, 36 months’ probation, and was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine. Hazard was hired by a consulting firm to register Republican voters; in the process he illegally switched party registrations for multiple voters and even registered his uncle, an Iowa resident, to vote in Florida. Florida. 2015. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Newton, a serial fraudster, was convicted of embezzlement, insurance fraud, and voter fraud, and sentenced to eight years in prison and 15 years’ probation after violating her probation stemming from a 2009 case in which she stole $400,000 from her employer. The vote fraud charges stemmed from registering to vote without informing election officials that she was a convicted felon. Florida. 2015. Ineligible Voting. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Eric Haynes, a Lauderdale Lakes City Commissioner, voted using a false address in the 2012 general election. He had moved to a different precinct before Election Day, but he still certified at the polls that he was living at his former address. He was fined $500 by the Florida Election Commission. Florida. 2015. False Registrations. Civil Penalty. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
James Webb Baker, of Seattle, pleaded guilty to ID Fraud and intimidation of voters. Responding to perceived suppression of Hispanic voters who favored Democrat candidates, Baker mailed fake county election documents to Palm Beach County, Florida, residents demanding proof of citizenship to avoid having their voter registrations cancelled. Nearly 200 residents were targeted, all with connections to the Republican Party. Florida. 2014. Miscellaneous. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Rebekah Joy Paul pleaded guilty to falsifying voter registrations prior to the 2012 general election. While employed as a voter registration worker with a political consulting firm hired by the Republican Party, she created false voter registrations. She and her co-conspirator admitted to faking 27 registrations for Duval County. She was sentenced to community service. Florida. 2013. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Onakia Lanet Griffin, a convicted felon who was not eligible to vote, was convicted of two counts of voter fraud and one count of false swearing. Griffin had previously been convicted of wire fraud, identification theft, and identity fraud. Griffin registered to vote on June 5, 2012, and falsely claimed that she was not a convicted felon. She subsequently admitted to voting in the 2012 presidential election. Griffin was sentenced to a fine of $1079.50 and 23 days’ incarceration. Florida. 2013. Ineligible Voting. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Chief of Staff to Florida Rep. Joe Garcia (D_26), Jeffrey Garcia, resigned and pleaded guilty to orchestrating a plot involving the submission of hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests during the primary in 2012. Garcia was sentenced to 90 days in prison and 18 months’ probation. He was ordered to spend the first three months of probation under house arrest. Florida. 2013. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary