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The Democratic Mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, has asked the state Attorney General to investigate claims that many elderly citizens of the Little Havana area had changed their party affiliations without their consent. The Democratic mayor issued the request via email to the State’s Attorney, saying the state should “investigate recent reports of voter registration fraud to ensure the integrity of the elections process.”
Although the mayor did not specify the number of residents that have been allegedly affected, it was reported by the Miami Herald that the complaints come from some residents at the Haley Sofge Towers complex in Little Havana. According to the mayor, “under the alleged guise of voter renewal efforts, canvassers entered the building and engaged with elderly residents, who claim they did not approve sudden changes to their party affiliation.”
The Florida GOP has said they have always acted with strict adherence to the law. The Executive Director of the Florida GOP Helen Aguire Ferré said to the Herald that the Republican Party of Florida “is working to register new voters and conducts its voter registration operations in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.” Ferré also said that their campaign “has been successful and that includes reviewing any report of concern with its program.”
At a press conference discussing the Biden administration’s policies at the border, Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the allegations, saying that any potential infractions should be punished according to the law, saying that “if they are changing to Republican and that’s illicit they need to be held accountable, and if they’re doing the opposite, they also need to be held accountable.”
He also highlighted the job of his administration in prosecuting electoral crimes, arguing that the measures he has implemented, especially the Division on election integrity, “would apply across the board, it doesn’t matter which group is doing it.” The governor also commented that his administration plans to “make ballot harvesting more penalized” and that the state “certainly does not want non-citizens in the voting rolls,” criticizing the decision by New York City that would allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.
The controversy over voter registration data comes after the Republican Party has enhanced its political position in the traditionally swing state of Florida. The GOP has won all major statewide elections since 2012, and just last year the Democratic Party Governors Association said they will not be allocating any resources to this year’s gubernatorial election.
Most recently, the Republican Party surpassed the Democratic Party in voter registration for the first time in history, as the Florida Division of Elections reported that the GOP had 5,123,799 registered voters to the Democrats’ 5,080,697 registered electors. One of the counties where the Democratic party lost a significant amount of registered voters was Miami-Dade, where the Democrat’s lost more than 40,000 registered voters (most of them were deemed as inactive voters) between December 2020 and December 2021. Republicans, meanwhile, lost less than 8,000 voters in the same span of time.
Daniel is a Political Science and Economics student from the University of South Florida. He worked as a congressional intern to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) from January to May 2020. He also is the head of international analysis at Politiks // Daniel es un estudiante de Cs Políticas y Economía en la Universidad del Sur de la Florida. Trabajo como pasante legislativo para el Representate Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) desde enero hasta mayo del 2020. Daniel también es el jefe de análisis internacional de Politiks.