Videos spark criticism of voter fraud arrests

Law enforcement body camera footage showing stunned and confused Floridians being arrested on charges of voting illegally has sparked renewed criticism of the state's crackdown on election fraud.

"What we've seen with these videos is the human face of a broken system," said Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which works to end what it describes as discrimination against and disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions.

The FRRC and another advocacy organization, the Sentencing Project, announced on Wednesday they established a bail fund for those arrested and have been in touch with attorneys who pledged to provide pro bono legal help.

Volz said his organization has started a petition with the aim of encouraging Florida officials to reform the state's voting eligibility system so it can tell applicants up front whether they can register to vote.

Voter fraud: Why are some

people facing jail time?

Currently, applicants are asked to state on an election form that they are eligible to vote. That form is then sent to the state Division of Elections, which is supposed to check whether the applicant is, indeed, eligible.

Several of those who have been arrested said they thought the 2018 passage of Amendment 4 had restored their right to vote. Some were successful in getting a voter registration card — proof, Volz said, that Florida is essentially punishing people for doing something the state told them they could do.

Nicole D. Porter of The Sentencing Project said videos of confused and frustrated voters — first obtained through a public records request by The Tampa Bay Times — drive home the unfairness of it all.

"What we are seeing right now in Florida is absolutely egregious," she said. "These videos are heartbreaking. These prosecutions will chill voting in Florida."

Critics of the state's new voter fraud crackdown say that's the point.

"The body camera footage reveals the real, human impact of these anti-voter schemes and the confusion it has created," the ACLU of Florida said in a statement. "It is devastating for our communities. The arrests are a grotesque abuse of power by Gov. (Ron) DeSantis."

Voter arrests: Governor's new Office of Election Crimes and Security takes action

The governor's office has not responded to requests for comment about the work of the election crimes unit or about the videos of those arrested.

In August, DeSantis announced the arrest of 20 felons he said voted illegally. They were arrested after investigations by the state's new Office of Election Crimes and Security.

The governor said that first group of people arrested wouldn't be the last.

On Thursday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), acting after an investigation by the election crimes unit, announced the arrest of what it described as an illegal alien from Jamaica who obtained false documentation and twice voted illegally in Broward County.

A day later, in a separate case, a Miami judge dismissed the voting charges of another man, Robert Lee Wood of Opa-Locka, saying the prosecutor lacked jurisdiction.

Voting rights advocates and DeSantis' political critics have warned that the election crimes unit would be used as a tool to intimidate and disenfranchise and would be unlikely to find much election fraud, given its rarity in Florida and across the country.

The Palm Beach Post found that the overwhelming majority of those in that first wave of arrests are Black, confirming for voting rights advocates and DeSantis critics that the unit was, in fact, having a disproportionate impact on a voting bloc that gives the overwhelming share of its support to Democrats, not members of DeSantis' Republican Party.

Critics have noted that DeSantis has been silent on alleged voting crimes committed in The Villages, a large, nearly all-white Sumter County retirement community that is a frequent campaign stop for GOP office-seekers.

Four residents of The Villages were arrested after voting more than once in the 2020 election.

Still, The Villages was not the backdrop for DeSantis' August press conference on voting crimes.

That press conference was held in Broward County, a Democratic stronghold.

DeSantis drew national coverage, promising to vigorously prosecute those who violate the state's election laws.

Now, law enforcement body camera footage shows what some of those initial voting arrests looked like.

Election fraud: 'So

unfortunately we're going

to have to take you to jail'

Many of those arrested appeared stunned, confused and angry.

Tony Patterson, a convicted sex offender in Tampa, appeared to be surprised when FDLE officers showed up to arrest him.

"I guess you have a warrant," one of the officers told Patterson.

"For what?" Patterson asked.

"For voter stuff," an officer replied.

"Oh my God, what the..." Patterson, stunned, asked.

"So, unfortunately, right now, we're going to have to take you to jail," an officer told Patterson, adding that his bond has already been reduced and he might not need to stay in jail for long.

Patterson was not mollified.

"A bond? What did I do wrong?"

Later, as officers explained that, as a sex offender, he did not have the right to vote, Patterson said: "I don't know this. This is crazy, man. I'm outta this state, man. I'm done."

Voter arrests: The confusion over the passage of Amendment 4

Four years ago, the passage of Amendment 4 appeared to pave the way for hundreds of thousands of felons to have their voting rights restored once they completed all terms and conditions of their sentence.

But the amendment excluded those convicted of murder or sex crimes, and Republican-backed legislation, Senate Bill 7066, stipulated that all terms and conditions included the payment of all fines and fees.

Critics argued that the payment requirement amounted to a new form of poll tax, but the legislation survived court challenges and the amendment's reach was shortened considerably.

"Although the governor and Legislature claimed that they passed SB 7066 in 2019 to 'clarify' Voting Restoration Amendment 4, in reality, the law created an unworkable pay-to-vote system which is intentionally difficult and complex to navigate," the ACLU of Florida said.

DeSantis, who once praised how the 2020 presidential election was conducted in the Sunshine State, said he moved to establish an election crimes unit to crack down on voting fraudsters who weren't being prosecuted.

The unit is a political winner for DeSantis, who is running for re-election and is widely seen as a potential candidate for president in 2024.

Its establishment appeases GOP voters who argue that voter fraud is a big problem, and it dovetails with criticism from former President Donald J. Trump, who has said repeatedly — and falsely — that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Opponents of the new election crimes unit and of Florida's crackdown on a problem they argue is vastly overrated hope the videos raise new questions and create a push to make it clear, once and for all, who can vote in the state and who is ineligible.

"It is our belief that this is the moment we can fix this problem," Volz said.

Reach Wayne Washington at wwashington@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter @waynewashpbpost.