Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) has requested an investigation by the Justice Department into a developing situation in Miami-Dade County, where elderly residents appear to have potentially been deceived into helping get their registered party affiliations changed from Democrat to Republican without them knowing. A report about the issue apparently first emerged last December; voter outreach personnel who were affiliated with the Republican Party of Florida showed up to speak with certain voters in-person, apparently collecting signatures… which were then used, it seems, to legitimize party registration changes that the voters didn’t want.
Senate GOP Whip John Thune, speaking to @tedbarrettcnn on reports that Trump tore up documents, says “nobody should be exempt” from the law and adds: “He should be held to the same standards as all former presidents.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 8, 2022
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Fried noted that “reports indicate that multiple registered Democrats living in retirement homes in Miami-Dade County were outraged to learn that their registration affiliation had been changed to Republican without their consent after interacting with third-party voter registration representatives working on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida.” She also pointed out that there are civil rights concerns here, since affected voters include members of marginalized communities. As Fried put it:
‘As a member of the Florida Cabinet, I take these reports of election interference and voter disenfranchisement extremely seriously. I am especially concerned about the civil rights implications of this reported disenfranchisement because the victims are elderly, low income, and many do not speak English. I request that the Department of Justice immediately begin an investigation into these reports.’
New: National Archives says there was no raid for Trump records at Mar-a-Lago — “When a representative informed NARA in Dec. 2021 they had located some records, NARA arranged for them to be securely transported.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) February 8, 2022
Fried is among the Democrats running to take on Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in this year’s general election for the state’s governorship. Other Democratic leaders in the state of Florida, including state Sen. Annette Taddeo and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, have also requested investigations; Levine Cava directed her push for a probe to Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle. A spokesperson for the county said late last week that Levine Cava “sent an official request to the State Attorney to investigate recent reports of voter registration fraud to ensure the integrity of the elections process.” The Republican Party of Florida’s Executive Director Helen Aguirre Ferré insisted that the party “is working to register new voters and conducts its voter registration operations in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations” — which could easily be considered to be a pretty vague, non-committal statement.
New: National Archives says in statement they removed 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago: “Trump’s representatives have informed NARA that they are continuing to search for additional Presidential records.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) February 7, 2022
It’s certainly not the turn of events that at least some might’ve expected for Republicans to be suspected of benefiting from what might be fraud — after all, Trump has spent ages insisting that massive fraud schemes have been built up against him and were responsible for Biden’s victory in the last election. As it turns out, not only is there no systematic fraud propping up the Democratic Party in any meaningful sense, but it’s Florida Republicans who’ve come under suspicion for potentially benefiting from dirty tricks targeting vulnerable Democratic seniors.
Donald Trump is making it pretty clear he was on the side of the people who violently attacked the government
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 8, 2022
