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https://www.theepochtimes.com/florida-watchdog-groups-allege-mail-in-ballot-and-voter-roll-violations-in-2022-primary-and-2020-general-election_4715972.html

Florida Watchdog Groups Allege Mail-in Ballot and Voter Roll
Violations in 2022 Primary and 2020 General Election
By Steven Kovac
September 8, 2022 Updated: September 9, 2022
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A citizens’ group called the Florida First Freedom Alliance (F3A) last
week presented evidence to election officials and law enforcement
officers that more than a thousand mail-in ballots were voted from
undeliverable addresses in Orange County in the Aug. 23 primary
election.

The group also released evidence alleging that across the state
serious irregularities occurred involving thousands of unrequested
changes of addresses being recorded on voter registration rolls
without the knowledge or consent of the affected voters.

A separate citizens’ group called the Lake County Election Integrity
and Voter Protection Coalition (LCEIVPC) collected the data from
public source information.

F3A spokesperson Christopher Gleason, of Clearwater, told The Epoch
Times, “Based on an analysis of the 2020 election and the data that we
have thus far for the 2022 primary, we are seeing Supervisor of
Elections Offices sending out envelopes with vote-by-mail ballots
enclosed to mailing addresses that cannot receive these vote-by-mail
ballots.

“The resulting problem is that there are thousands of completely
undeliverable vote-by-mail ballots that were later turned in to
election officials as legitimately cast vote-by-mail ballots.”

F3A has made available to election officials a spreadsheet containing
the results of a computer crosscheck conducted by LCEIVPC of what
Gleason calls “only a small sliver” of those who requested mail-in
ballots in Orange County.
Epoch Times Photo Christopher Gleason, spokesperson for the Florida
First Freedom Alliance. (Courtesy photo)

The data allegedly reveals that almost 1,100 vote-by-mail ballots were
sent to and cast from undeliverable addresses in that small sample
alone.

“This is what happens when dirty voter registration rolls result in
massive numbers of undeliverable ballots,” Gleason told The Epoch
Times.

“The question is, who is voting them?”

The Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office did not respond to a
request for comment by press time.

LCEIVPC spokesperson Kris Jurski told The Epoch Times in a recent
phone interview:

“There are thousands of people across Florida listed on the voter
rolls whose address is flawed with either incomplete or inaccurate
information—missing a digit in the zip code, an apartment complex with
inaccurate, incomplete, apartment numbers, or none at all, and
misspelled words. Small errors. But just enough to render a mail-in
ballot undeliverable.

“The whole game is to generate undeliverable ballots—a portion of
which are somehow being obtained and voted by somebody else,” alleged
Jurski.

“And the volume of those undeliverable ballots also serves the purpose
of muddying the waters, creating confusion, and overwhelming the
system,” he said.

After analyzing the July 2022 voter rolls, Jurski’s group informed
Florida elections officials that in just one of the state’s 27 U.S.
congressional districts (District 11) nearly 60,000 residential
addresses were in need of updating and correction.

The group found over 30,000 residential addresses that were designated
by the United States Postal Service as undeliverable.

Jurski stated there were thousands of address splits in which voters
had their addresses temporarily altered in 2020 and that the practice
continues today.

“Performing the switch is how an unauthorized actor could get a
person’s mail-in ballot without his or her knowledge.

“This may be why there are so many obviously faulty addresses kept on
voter registration rolls.”

It may also explain the experience reported by many in-person voters
who showed up at their polling places to vote on election day and were
told by the election worker they had already voted, Jurski said.

“Thousands of these ballots are being voted by someone—then just in
time for the election, the addresses are electronically switched back,
making the scheme all but undetectable by local election officials.

“This is classic identity theft,” alleged Jurski.

He explained that the voter’s name, ID number, house number (but not
his street name), and all other information in his voting records
remain the same on the registration rolls.

He said the switches are done in low volume over a wide area of
jurisdictions, and that there is less such activity during primaries
because fewer votes are needed to impact the outcome of races than in
general elections.

“Many elections in Florida are decided by less than one percent or
even by just a handful of votes, so the situation is very concerning,”
he said.

Jurski told The Epoch Times that a citizens’ canvass of 12th Street in
the city of Clermont in Lake County, conducted on Aug. 27, just days
after Florida’s Aug. 23 primary election, found residents completely
unaware of a switch that was made to their voter registration records.

Without their knowledge, request, or assent, all of the 12th Street
voters surveyed had their addresses electronically changed to say Red
Belly Road and then changed back again weeks later.

“We obtained 37 sworn affidavits from the 37 people registered to vote
on 12th Street attesting that they never requested a change of
address.
Epoch Times Photo A voter information card issued to a resident of
12th Steet in Clermont, Fla. with an inaccurate Red Belly Road
address. (Courtesy photo)

“A married couple residing on 12th Street showed us two voter
information cards displaying their names and inaccurately listing them
as living on Red Belly Road,” Jurski said.

Alan Hays, Supervisor of Elections in Lake County, told The Epoch
Times in a Sept. 5 phone interview that he was aware of the 12th
Street incident.

Hays, a Republican, said he wants to assure people that every change
on the Lake County voter rolls was made by “authorized personnel,
either directly employed by Lake County or contracted with it.

“We are not in violation of any law. We completely follow the letter of the law.

“I don’t question the intent of the citizens’ groups. In fact, I share
their desire for pure and clean elections.”

Hays explained that the 12th Street changes (to Red Belly Road and
back to 12th Street again) resulted from the United States Postal
Service referring to the block as 12th Street, while the Lake County
E-911 System calls the same thoroughfare Red Belly Road.

“As we were in the process of making our precincts coincide with newly
redrawn district lines, the consultant we employed used the E-911
designation of Red Belly Road instead of the name 12th Street.

“Our office chose to use the E-911 Geo Point Data System for our
redistricting work,” explained Hays.

Greg Holcomb, the director of public safety support and 911
coordinator for Lake County, told The Epoch Times, “We have never
referred to 12th Street in Clermont as Red Belly Road. It has never
been named Red Belly Road.

“There was a 12th Street in the Wekiva Falls RV Resort that was
renamed Red Belly Road, but that was in Sorrento and has nothing to do
with the 12th Street in Clermont. They are on opposite ends of Lake
County.”

United States Postal Service records show the communities have
different zip codes.

In all but the above-mentioned case of the married couple’s voter
information cards, the Postal Service considered the block residents’
mail undeliverable if it bore the Red Belly Road address.

According to Jurski, the long-time personal acquaintance between the
couple and their mail carrier may have been a factor in their
receiving the misaddressed envelopes containing the inaccurate voter
information cards.

In his letter to election officials, Gleason alleged that the existing
safeguards provided by Florida law to prevent the misuse of mail-in
ballots are being ignored by many county election supervisors.

He pointed to Florida statute 101.6103, a law governing mail-in ballot
procedure, which says in part, “Ballots shall be addressed to each
elector at the address appearing in the registration records and
placed in an envelope which is prominently marked Do Not Forward.”

The F3A provided election authorities with screenshots of mail-in
ballot envelopes that were sent out to voters that do not bear what
they allege to be the statutorily required instruction “Do Not
Forward.”

Instead, the envelopes only say, “Return Service Requested.”

“That is a clear violation of the plain language of the law,” alleged Gleason.

“Specific words have specific meanings in the law and in postal regulations.”

Gleason contends that the deficient labeling does not clearly and
definitively inform apartment managers, RV park managers, or mailroom
clerks handling other people’s mail that it should not be forwarded.

As evidence of the problem, Gleason’s group provided authorities with
a screenshot of a vote-by-mail ballot envelope that had been forwarded
in Pinellas County.

Similar evidence of such occurrences in other counties, such as Pasco,
has also been sent along to election officials.

Dustin Chase, the deputy supervisor of elections in Pinellas County,
disagrees that the envelopes used by his office violate the statute.

Chase told The Epoch Times in a phone interview, “From our perspective
and that of our attorneys, we are conducting elections legally
pursuant to all laws.”

Chase described F3A as “a very sincere group of patriots that is
dedicated to ensuring the integrity of our elections. We respect
them.”

However, Chase went on to state that the group is not understanding
that the section of the Florida election law it cites applies only to
“all-mail-in elections,” such as referendums, where no candidates or
offices appear on the ballot and there is no in-person voting.

Gleason contends that the plain statutory language governs the
handling of mail-in ballots in all elections.
Epoch Times Photo An envelope containing mail-in ballot materials sent
by non-profit mail by Pinellas County, Fla. (Courtesy photo)

Gleason also alleges that the same statute mandates that mail-in
ballots be sent by First Class mail, yet the F3A found that many
mail-in ballot envelopes are sent by bulk mail or non-profit mail.

He also presented evidence that a large number of mail-in ballots were
sent to voters in apartment houses or complexes with no individual
apartment numbers specified, a practice, he says, opens the door to
potential voter fraud.

“The sending out of mail-in ballots in envelopes that violate state
law must be stopped. Mail-in ballots being voted from invalid
addresses must be stopped,” said Gleason.

When Chase was asked by The Epoch Times about mail-in ballots being
cast from undeliverable addresses, he replied, “I’m not sure if it did
happen, but if it did and someone knows about it, they should report
the fraud to law enforcement immediately.”

Gleason said F3A members are eagerly awaiting the response from state
and local election officials to their letters and are willing to help
them clean up the problems.

He bemoaned the hesitancy of some election officials to cooperate with
concerned citizens.

“We are often told that data we request is non-existent, or that we
don’t have a right to see it. They also tack on exorbitant fees to
some requests,” said Gleason.

Jurski said his group is running into the same resistance from
election authorities.

“Our problem is not with the honest, hardworking, conscientious
election workers. It is with their superiors,” said Jurski.

On Aug. 25, The Epoch Times contacted Mark Ard, the director of
external affairs for the Florida Deptartment of State, with a list of
questions and a request for comment on the citizens’ allegations.

Ard acknowledged receipt of the email but has not responded as of press time.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, stated at a
recent press conference that ineligible voters casting ballots is “a
problem.”

Moody said even a small number of such votes can be impactful, citing
a congressional seat that was won by only five votes.

She referred to a poll that found that just one in five Americans
believe our elections are “very secure.”

“Government cannot stand without the trust and confidence of our
citizens,” said Moody.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a
press conference held at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., on Aug. 18, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

At the same press conference, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a
Republican, pledged the state would investigate and arrest violators
of election law.

DeSantis focused his remarks on voters who voted in two different
states, and on foreign nationals who get registered to vote and are
voting in Florida elections.

“It would be easier if we had the cooperation of the Deptartment of
Homeland Security,” said DeSantis.

“The federal government has not been working closely with us. Their
interests lie elsewhere.”