You might ask, how to protect and sustain our political freedom? The answer to that question is quite simple but made very complex throughout the centuries. Our political freedom is highly contingent upon our abilities to provide free, fair, and secure elections. It is the solid foundation in which our political freedom rest.
The number one enemy to our political freedom is election fraud. Election fraud occurs in many forms. Duplicate voting, ineligible voting, false registration, illegally casting a vote in the name of a dead person or someone who has moved, ballot harvesting, ballot petition fraud and fraudulent use of absentee ballots are all forms of election fraud. In 2022 the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 524 which provided measures that Florida would be the leader in conducting fair and secure elections. The bill established the Office of Election Crimes and Security with the sole mission to investigate election law violations. The bill also included the following provisions; (a) increase and create penalties that could be assessed against a third-party voter registration organization for certain violations; “(b) increased the frequency with which voter registration list maintenance must be conducted, created additional requirements for related information that must be provided to the Department of State, and requires inactive voters to confirm address of legal residence before being restored to active status; (c) conformed the mailing and canvassing timeframes for all-mail-ballot elections to those for vote-by-mail ballots in regular elections (effective January 1, 2024); (d) revised retention, maintenance, and information posting requirements for citizens’ initiative petition signature forms; and (e) increased criminal penalties for ballot harvesting and crimes related to ballot petition signatures.”
Since enactment of the bill and the creation of The Office Election Crimes and Security, this agency has made 1,479 criminal referrals to law enforcement. The criminal referrals led to thirteen felony convictions and thirty-two criminal referrals have led to arrests or warrants being issued. Two election cases have gone to a jury trial, and both have resulted in felony convictions.”
You might think this will not happen in our community. Well our Jackson County election system was a victim of fraudulent submissions related to constitutional initiative petitions. In December 2022, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested a Jackson Countian on five felony counts of false swearing, submission of false voter information, and five misdemeanor counts of perjury when not in an official proceeding. It is a travesty that all Americans do not hold “the will of the people” as the highest standard of freedom.
If you find yourself a suspected victim of election fraud or have information regarding election fraud, please contact the Jackson County Supervisor of Elections Office (850) 482-9652 and The 14th Judicial Circuit Office of State Attorney (850) 482-9555. Our freedom foundation hinges on the “will of the people” which is only provided by free, fair and secure elections. I will leave you with that thought and that concludes this week’s The Straight Truth With Mary Ann Hutton.