Why do people vote more than once? Surely they know that their one extra ballot would not throw the election to Donald Trump. Do they believe the ex-president’s Big Lie, that the voting process was illegal, so why not? Is it possible they assume they will not be caught and even if they did, no big deal? Let us ask Joan Halstead, 72.
The Florida woman was arrested Monday evening charged with fraud. The Village-News wrote:
‘[Her crime was] casting more than one ballot at any election.’
Within two hours of being booked, she was released on a $2,000 bond.
Two months ago, the retired Pennsylvania special education teacher declared her intention to run against the sitting Sumter County School Board member Sally Moss. And filed her paperwork.
Moss will be running for reelection in 2022. Governor Rick Scott (R) appointed her in 2018 after a board member died and created an opening. Then, she faced an election that same year.
To her credit, Moss ran a school supply drive for school children in need of free supplies. In a letter to the Villages-News editor, she thanked the community:
‘To all of you who supported the 2021 Sumter County Public Schools Supply drive, thank you very much for your donations. I really appreciate your support for this much needed event. The supply drive was at least twice as successful this year in supplies donated and monetary contributions as last year and it was all because of the residents of The Villages. Thank you!’
Halstead decided to withdraw from the school board election. The Villages-News reported that she was registered as a Republican. Her online activity reflected that she was a Donald Trump advocate.
Jason Mariner ran for Florida’s 20th congressional district, but the state cannot determine whether he voted legally. The man has had a colored past. In a campaign video he said, according to WLRN:
‘I’ve been addicted to drugs, I’ve spent time in a cell. Multiple times. I’ve had a knee on my neck. I know what it’s like.’
He won, but did he have the right to run for Congress based upon felony convictions in 2011? He never applied for “clemency or restoration of his rights” from Florida.
In addition, Mariner may have cast an illegal ballot in the 2020 presidential election. At question was how Florida decided on voting eligibility for those with felony convictions.
Under Florida’s Amendment 4, which was passed in 2018:
‘[A]nyone with a felony conviction would automatically regain the right to vote upon completing “all terms of the sentence” related to that felony conviction.’
Mariner emailed told WLRN that he did work release after prison:
‘Work release meant I had a job and it also meant that the vast majority of the pay I received from the job was taken by the state for restitution. Upon final exit and completion of work release, my final payment was complete.’
He stole art from a retired woman in Delray Beach. She said:
‘He does owe me restitution for them. And I remember giving the detective the estimate for how much they were worth at the time.’
Florida could neither confirm nor deny that restitution was made. Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said:
‘We’re going to create a separate office at the state level solely dedicated to investigating and prosecuting election crimes. We’ll have sworn law enforcement officers involved in this, we’ll have investigators, we’ll have a statewide prosecutor that’s able to bring cases.’
Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook.
