Part 3 - Absentee Ballot Fraud: How it is Done and How You Can Help. By Geniusofdespair

Once a minor factor, absentee ballots are now swaying local elections despite greater vulnerability to corruption, coercion and fraud.  - Miami Herald 6/25/11

This close-out memo of a State Attorney's office investigation walks you through some methods that absentee ballots are manipulated by campaign workers. Besides the outright theft in Mrs. Thompson's case other shenanigans are running rampant. Please take time to read this memo, it is very enlightening. Hit on each page and they will be readable. After the memo you can read what a political operative sent me about absentee ballot fraud and I have also included a tape of Former FL House Rep. Julio Robaina who tells us the absentee ballot fraud process he knows about as a politician and he describes how it cheats us out of fair elections. It is a dirty secret every elected official knows about but few will talk about.

A View from an Insider:

There are cases where they would be “using” the absentee ballots mailed to the typical Cuban seniors -- those who are handicapped by their physical problems, and many who are not. These people don’t speak English; most live either in nursing homes or in private nursing homes [family homes that take up to 8 seniors], so the people who are the managers at these places are in control of the votes/people.

These seniors don’t know how to vote, so they trust their “handlers” to do this for them. Let’s say that there’s a private home that houses 8 seniors; the person who manages the place will sell their ballots to the people who are gathering votes for the candidates. This manager can collect anywhere from $50 to $100 per ballot. It all depends on how badly the campaigns need the vote and, most all, how much money is available for negotiating.

Why on earth do you think that the costs of running a political campaign in Miami-Dade get higher with every new election? Do you really believe that they need the money for radio and TV?

In the case of the dining rooms [“comedores”], I understand that it is more of a communal process. As the ballots arrive, the “handlers” sit with the seniors and they tell them that they are going to help complete the voting process, so it is easier for them. These seniors have no idea how to vote, and even the presence of a ballot scares them to death.

In the cases of the hundreds of Cuban clinics in Miami-Dade – that are no more than Medicare mills – the owners, or managers, ask the seniors if they want to “negotiate” their ballots, and they offer them money. Naturally, a Medicare mill is there to help the senior make money, one way or the other. And then the seniors request their ballots by phone, and even if they would need a medical excuse, stating that they “can’t go to the polls,” remember who’s helping them to do the transaction, THEIR CLINIC.

Julio Robaina opens up on Absentee Ballot Fraud:

Here is a Listen 305 radio show on how Absentee Ballot Fraud is done. Albert Harum Alvarez is the questioner of former State Rep. Julio Robaina:

Don't see video? Link to Video.

What can you do TODAY?

Call Rebeca Sosa's and Xavier Suarez's offices. Tell Them to sponsor a PENALTY to combat one type of Absentee Ballot Fraud. Miami Dade County Code Section 12-14 needs a criminal penalty for it's violation or the State Attorney's Office cannot act on it according to Joe Centorino, formerly of that office. He said that absentee ballot fraud or any other type of ballot fraud is generally punishable as a third degree felony crime, which calls for up to 5 years in State Prison. Tell Rebeca and Xavier you want them to sponsor legislation that adds the penalty to County Code Section 12-14. Also call your own County Commissioner. Ask them to sponsor it too. Here is what 12-14 says now:

Sec. 12-14. - Absentee ballots.

(a) An absentee ballot shall be provided to and returned by an elector, except an overseas elector, in person or by mail except as provided herein. For purposes of this section, "mail" means delivery by the United States Postal Service. Absentee ballots shall be provided to and returned by overseas electors in accordance with federal law and Florida Statutes. The Supervisor of Elections may provide to and receive absentee ballots from employees of the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department who are designated by the Director to facilitate the vote for inmates of correctional facilities who are eligible to vote. The Supervisor of Elections may provide an absentee ballot to a designee of an elector if the elector is unable to retrieve and/or return the ballot in person or by mail as follows:

(b) The designee must provide to the Supervisor of Elections identification from the elector, picture identification of the designee, and a written statement signed by the elector authorizing the designee by name to pick up and/or return the absentee ballot. If the elector is a member of the designee's immediate family, the signed statement must include the circumstances requiring the designee to pick up and/or return the absentee ballot. If the elector is not a member of the designee's immediate family, the designee must also provide to the Supervisor of Elections a statement signed by a physician on that physician's stationery that, due to a medical emergency involving the elector or elector's dependent, the named elector is unable to vote at the polls and is unable to pick up and/or return an absentee ballot in person. A designee may retrieve no more than two (2) absentee ballots other than his or her own per election, only one (1) of which may be for an elector not of the designee's immediate family. For purposes of this section, "immediate family" means the elector's spouse or the parent, child, grandparent, or sibling of the elector. A designee may only pick up and/or return an absentee ballot on the day before or day of the election for an immediate family member and on the day of the election for a non-family member. The designee must complete an affidavit that states that the designee is authorized by the elector to retrieve and/or return the elector's ballot and shall indicate his or her relationship to the elector, if any.

(c) The Supervisor of Elections shall prescribe the form of the affidavit to be completed and signed by a designee of an elector. If the Supervisor of Elections is satisfied that the designee is authorized to retrieve and/or return the absentee ballot, the ballot shall be provided to or accepted from the designee.

Here is a last word from the Miami Herald:

"Still, interviews with at least a half-dozen people involved in Greater Miami elections paint a picture of a flourishing cottage industry in which ballot brokers promise to deliver blocks of absentee votes for a price. To be sure, many strategies for targeting absentee voters are legal, but the practice becomes dubious when voters are pressured with insistent phone calls and home visits. And the efforts can cross the line into fraud, when ballots that are collected under the guise of helping a voter are altered or destroyed."

Let your voice be heard on this subject. Tell the Mayor we need a citizen task force to look into remedies because the inclusion of a penalty will only stop one type of fraud. Campaign Workers have a host of scams in place. Tell the County Commissioners, tell whomever will listen - it has to stop! NOW!

Sosa: 305-375-5696
Her Chief of staff:
roly@miamidade.gov

Xavier Suarez: 305-375-5680
Legislative Aide:
donaldwolfeiii@gmail.com

Mayor Gimenez: 305-375-5071
INSON@miamidade.gov

Also see Part 1.