Florida's Democrat Election Officials Sent Ballots to Felons Ineligible to Vote. Now They Are Refusing to Invalidate the Illegal Ballots Despite Receiving Notice from the State.
Democrat election officials duped black felons into voting illegally in 2020. The felons ended up in jail and the election officials weren't held accountable. They're doing it again in 2022.
UPDATE: Democrat election officials who duped black felons into voting illegally in 2020 were not held accountable as their victims, almost all Black, were charged and arrested for voter fraud. To prevent more felons from being duped in 2022 the State of Florida sent those same election officials a list of ineligible felons who received ballots to ensure their votes were not counted.1 Unfortunately, Democrats are refusing to do anything meaning the felon’s votes will be counted putting them at risk of being arrested and jailed for voter fraud - presumably, the election officials will, once again, be spared any punishment or accountability.
Police Bodycam Video Show Black Felons Being Arrested for Voting Illegally in Florida. Florida Democrats duped black felons into voting illegally. Why aren't the Democrat election officials who duped the felons into voting illegally being held accountable?
Their votes counted but now the felons are going to jail. Newly released bodycam footage shows Tampa police and Hillsborough County sheriff being “patient, understanding, apologetic” as they arrested Black felons duped into voting illegally by Florida Democrat election officials. One of the felons arrested can be heard saying,
“What is wrong with this state, man? Voter fraud? Y’all said anybody with a felony could vote, man.”2
In an effort to demonstrate to voters that he’s keeping his promises related to election integrity, Governor Ron DeSantis asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to prioritize reports of voter fraud—a crime that is almost never investigated much less prosecuted in most states. Florida’s first investigation bore fruit uncovering a massive electioneering scheme that disproportionally targets Black citizens putting them at risk of prosecution.
More than six million prisoners in jail are eligible to vote and the overall convict population makes up almost 3% of American voters—the majority of whom vote for Democrat candidates. As a result, the state’s Democrat election supervisors have long-standing relationships with county jails across the state where they conduct voter registration drives and ballot collection efforts. Of course, the fact that a LOT of the people in jail were felons ineligible to vote in Florida stunted their efforts—that is until the passage of Amendment 4.
In 2020, for the first time since the 1800s, felons were able to vote in the presidential election after they had completed their sentences and paid their fines. Florida Democrats even raised millions to pay off outstanding fines for tens of thousands of felons in the state to ensure they could vote for Joe Biden.3 Democrats were hopeful, that the state's felons could give them the numbers they needed to take control of Florida.
Democratic election supervisors like, Kim Barton from Alachua County, spent the summer in the state’s 4,000+ county jails registering and collecting ballots from prisoners. As an incentive election supervisors would frequently give prisoners slices of pizza, snacks, and/or toiletries in exchange for registering and/or voting. Felons who knew they weren’t allowed to vote were often shocked to learn that the state’s voters had restored their voting rights and eagerly partook in the festivities celebrating their newfound franchise with a slice.
During the summer of 2020, Kelvin Bolton was being held in the Alachua County Jail when T.J. Pyche III, Director of Election Outreach, was hosting a voter registration drive. Kelvin, a homeless man, has IQ under 80, suffers from mental illness, and is a habitual offender with past felony convictions. He had never voted and assumed he was ineligible as a result of his past convictions—T.J. convinced him otherwise explaining that Amendment 4 allowed him to vote as long as he had completed his sentence. Kelvin’s sister, Derbra Owete, explains,
“If someone in the prison came up to him and said, ‘Hey, man, you know you can vote? Even though you’re in prison,’ Kelvin would vote. He wouldn’t question it because somebody in authority told him he could vote.”4
Much to the chagrin of T.J., Kelvin insisted upon being registered as a Republican. Of course, when T.J. returned to the jail when it was time to collect ballots he had to help him fill out the ballot—there is no record of who Kelvin voted for—but T.J. and Kim know for certain that his vote was counted. Unfortunately, Kelvin was ineligible to vote despite the assurances he received from representatives of the Election Supervisor. He is now facing five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for illegally voting.
So what about Kim Barton and T.J. Pyche III? They told Kelvin he could vote—don’t they bear any responsibility? According to Darry Lloyd, Florida’s Deputy Chief Investigator it was Kelvin’s responsibility to understand the law and determine his own eligibility, not Alachua County election officials.5 Kelvin can barely read and suffers from mental illness and is borderline mentally retarded. How is Kelvin supposed to understand election law better than the people elected to implement election law?
The truth is that Alachua County election officials have ZERO incentive to ensure that the felons they register and collect ballots for are eligible. They know that the votes will count even if it is later determined they were ineligible—and they now know state officials won’t prosecute them. Prior to 2020 Florida had rarely investigated much less prosecuted individual cases of voter fraud—it is likely that Kim and T.J. believed that Kevlin wouldn’t suffer any consequences for his actions—it is just as likely they don’t care.
At the end of the day, it is outrageous to expect a mentally ill and/or retarded felon to understand the nuances of Amendment 4 and the companion SB7066 legislation—T.J. didn’t understand and he was the valedictorian of his high school. In fact, according to his yearbook, his favorite book is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird—he ought to remember Atticus Finch’s warning,
“As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something, and don’t you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”
Darry Lloyd, Florida’s Deputy Chief Investigator needs to drop the charges against the felons that were duped and determine just how many other county election officials engaged in similar electioneering activities in the state's 4,000+ other jails. I don’t know if Alachua County’s Election Supervisor Kim Barton or its Director of Election Outreach T.J. Pyche III should be prosecuted—but I know they need to be stopped.6 Florida needs to update their election law to ensure that election officials are held accountable if they advise citizens (or noncitizens) to vote illegally. Drop the charges against Kelvin Bolton and get him some help—find him a place to live and a job and then ask for his vote. Don’t take advantage of him while he’s still in jail.
According to WUFT “Many of the voter registrations in question corresponded with visits to the jail on at least two occasions in 2020 by T.J. Pyche, the former director of communications and outreach for the county supervisor of elections. Pyche declined this week in a phone interview to discuss the case. He resigned from the agency in July, shortly after the state investigation began.”