Democrats have complained plenty about Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ election “police.”
Yet one Democrat from Orlando is thrilled the state’s Office of Election Crimes and Security is trying to ensure the integrity of Florida’s elections.
The Washington Times reported on Saturday that Cynthia Harris, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the Orange County Commission, recently filed a sworn complaint to DeSantis’ election cops.
Harris alleges that “left-leaning organizations have been perpetrating a scheme to encourage residents in black neighborhoods to apply for mail-in ballots and to fill out those ballots, which she said have been collected by paid canvassers, and sometimes altered, all in violation of state law,” the Times reported.
Harris told the Times she holds video evidence of paid ballot harvesters operating in Orlando neighborhoods in both 2014 and 2017, and that the decades-old scheme has also occurred in the 2020 election and Florida’s primaries this year.
The harvesters collect $10 a ballot.
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Harris also told the Times that the scheme is run by “unnamed local Democratic operatives funded by progressive groups who mainly seek out the disabled and the elderly, urging them first to apply for absentee ballots.”
“They know a whole year ahead, who they are going to target and who they’re going to prey upon,” Harris said. “They get them to fill out an absentee ballot request, usually a year ahead of time. Then they’ll knock on their doors and they’ll say, ‘You received the absentee ballot and we’re here to pick it up.’”
Harris also maintained that the harvesters will alter ballots that do not match the liberal group’s desired candidate. That includes steaming open sealed ballots to make changes, or simply throwing them.
Harris lost the Orange County District 6 primary to Democrat Mike Scott by six votes. She told the Times she blames that on “ballot harvesting and irregularities during the vote counting.”
The preliminary investigation of Harris’ complaint by the Office of Election Crimes and Security led to a referral to state law enforcement officials for follow-up.
“I’m excited that someone’s finally hearing what has been said for a long time,” Harris told the Times.
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