Gaetz: Voter Fraudsters Should Be Punished Regardless Of Party

October 3, 2012

Incoming Senate President Don Gaetz told reporters Tuesday that law enforcement officials should throw the book at Strategic Allied Consultants if the company is found guilty of systemic fraud in the gathering of voter registration applications for the Republican National Committee.

So far, more than 100 questionable registrations in Palm Beach County have surfaced. Potential irregularities in 10 other counties — including Escambia and Santa Rosa — have also been reported.

“Let’s hope there’s not selective indignation here,” Gaetz said when asked whether there was any irony that Republicans had pressed hard against voter fraud last year and now were faced with a GOP firm being accused of it.

“I don’t find it ironic, I find it outrageous,” he said. “I hope they go to jail.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was reviewing evidence sent Friday by the Division of Elections regarding potentially fraudulent voter registration efforts by the Virginia-based company, agency spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said in an email Tuesday. The agency has not yet determined whether a formal investigation will ensue.

State election officials also forwarded a handful of suspect ballots collected by National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the nation, sent to them by the Miami-Dade elections supervisor’s office.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

Comments

10 Responses to “Gaetz: Voter Fraudsters Should Be Punished Regardless Of Party”

  1. trust on October 5th, 2012 9:00 pm

    Alicia Thomas
    Escambia county does not legislate driver license requirements. They are set state wide by the Florida legislature. Unhappy, write Don Gatez, don’t forget Jeff Miller as Florida copied Real ID as passed by congress. The sad part is you have to use your real name, bubba and honey boo boo won’t be on your next license’ unless you get a. Legal name change.

  2. William on October 5th, 2012 3:06 pm

    ACORN, that’s all I have to say about that Lt. Dan.

  3. 429SCJ on October 3rd, 2012 11:15 am

    As a Welchman (with a dab of Creek and Dutch), I am not offended by being asked for my ID, I do not feel discriminated against. Why should people be offended by being asked for an ID?

    As a minority in this world, I have no problem presenting my ID and hope that one day everyone will just be able to simply present their ID and vote.

  4. alicia thomas on October 3rd, 2012 10:08 am

    Seems simple to me. Get up & go to the polls with documentation required. Have you seen what a divorced & remarried woman has to go through, in escambia county to get a new drivers license. Why not do the same with the elections. No write ins, no voting unless your a legal citizen and yes jail if there is any fraud.

  5. LOL on October 3rd, 2012 9:05 am

    The GOP saw that $Money$ wasn’t helping them win so they tried another way to try and steal the election!!!!

  6. Darth Soetoro on October 3rd, 2012 8:41 am

    @huh, Welcome to the Dark Side!

  7. Mike on October 3rd, 2012 8:39 am

    @huh, you are always partisian here…. Why? You don’t have to be.

    I think the firm was a plant. They got hired to help the GOP but their unofficial mission was to undercut the GOP by doing illegal registration practices and get in trouble thereby making news right before the election. This so that people like “huh” here will think “GOP fraud” when it was actually the company involved in wrongdoing, not the political party.

    Besides, the Democrats never engage in vote fraud right? Oops. I start to believe in reincarnation when I hear of the large numbers of dead people who vote (especially in Chicago). Also don’t forget that part of the Florida 2000 election mess was when the Democrat Party tried to have thousands ballots in a county tossed out because the ballot applications were tampered with AFTER the voters had sent them. The Judge ruled that it was not an action done by the voter, it was done by the party rep, so it was not the voter’s fault and it did not affect the ballot itself (only the ballot application). Then in another county Democrat lawyers for Al Gore Jr. tried to have military absentee votes tossed out too.

    ANY fraud should be targeted, investigated, and prosecuted, no matter which party or individual. Democrat people want to attack the Florida GOP for a private firm’s action yet ignore their own party’s “transgressions”.

    Have a nice day!

  8. Abe on October 3rd, 2012 7:04 am

    This will just go away and no one will serve time. Remember the economy collapsing due to the fraudsters in the banking industry? Remember the banks taking bets that the products that they were selling wouldn’t pan out? Not one person has served a day in jail for that.

  9. Carolyn Bramblett on October 3rd, 2012 6:04 am

    Voter fraud is a serious issue and the guilty ought to go to jail.

  10. huh on October 3rd, 2012 4:12 am

    Were is gov Rick Scott? I thought he was anti voter fraud? Oh thats right, it was the GOP that was trying to commit voter fraud. I would love to hear him denounce them

    Its funny isnt it