Sunshine Sentinel

The Florida House of Representatives has sent Gov. Ron DeSantis legislation that would create the Office of Election Crimes and Security, which the Republican governor is expected to sign into law.

Under the bill, the new office would review allegations of fraud and conduct preliminary investigations into potential election law violations or irregularities.

Republican state lawmakers, with majorities in the House and Senate, said that the office was needed to investigate election fraud occurring throughout the state. Democrats argued that the office is unnecessary and that fraud is minimal. 

Lauren Bowman, spokeswoman for the Indianapolis-based Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a  law firm specializing in election integrity, called approval of the legislation “groundbreaking.”

“The establishment of an election crimes office will guarantee that election crimes are prosecuted,” Bowman told the Sunshine Sentinel. “Florida has become a leader for election integrity and other states should pass similar legislation."

The results of a PILF investigation, published in November 2021, showed “little follow-through by prosecuting authorities” in the nine Florida counties PILF requested information from regarding referrals to prosecutors around the November 2020 general election. The investigation showed that the most common types of potential or alleged crimes discovered by officials were noncitizen registration and voting, double voting and vote-by-mail violations.

“It is unknown why law enforcement did not pursue these matters,” the study stated in an introduction to the final report. “Justice does not prevail when prosecutors never receive referrals or receive them and allow them to gather dust. And there is no deterrence in a system where potential election criminals know there is no chance of being prosecuted.”

Florida law, Title IX Ch. 104.42, states “the supervisor of elections is authorized to investigate fraudulent registrations and illegal voting and to report his or her findings to the local state attorney and the Florida Elections Commission. The board of county commissioners in any county may appropriate funds to the supervisor of elections for the purpose of investigating fraudulent registrations and illegal voting.”

Punishments for double voting (by mail or in-person), for instance, is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Noncitizen voting is also a felony, and punishable by up to five years and a $5,000 fine.