Palm Bay man charged by state election crimes team with voter fraud

A 77-year-old Brevard man, a previously convicted felon, was arrested after state elections investigators said he illegally cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election.

State investigators said Louis Palmieri, who had been convicted as a sex offender in another Florida county, falsely claimed that his voting rights were restored when he signed a voter registration application in 2020. He was issued a voter ID number and card by the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections office shortly before the 2020 election.

Palmieri was sentenced in 2003 to five years in state prison on a lewd and lascivious conduct charge involving a child under 16, state records show. He was released in 2009, according to records from the Florida Department of Corrections.

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Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents said that in August 2020, Palmieri completed a voter application that Floridians are asked to sign to affirm eligibility. Agents said that Palmieri signed the document, affirming that he was not a convicted felon, "or if I am, my rights have been restored,” reports show. Palmieri had filed for executive clemency to have his voting rights restored in St. Lucie County in 2001, but was denied the request, FDLE records show.

Palmieri’s voting application information was forwarded to Brevard County in September 2020. He registered as a Republican and voted in Brevard, casting his ballot Nov. 3 in the 2020 general election, public records show.

Shortly after the state's Election Crimes and Security policing force was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in early 2022, agents met with Palmieri at his home and questioned him about voting in the 2020 election, records show. Palmieri told agents that a neighbor who was also a sex offender advised him that he could vote despite the conviction, records show.

Florida voters in 2018 approved Amendment 4 to restore voting rights to 1.4 million citizens barred from voting because of previous felony convictions, with the exception of murder or sexual offenses. State Republicans, however, countered with a proposed law — later signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis — that would keep thousands of those impacted from voting until they paid all court and legal costs in their cases.

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The new law, however, did not set up a system for those affected to track costs or fines. Some, believing they had been cleared, voted. DeSantis, following a wave of false, national claims from some pro-Trump groups that the 2020 election was rife with fraud, then moved to establish the Election Crimes and Security policing force.

The team reviewed the state’s system of 14 million registered voters, investigating 1,094 individuals who were suspected of unlawfully voting in 2020 and 2022.

There were 20 initial arrests of those previously convicted, plus another four by the end of 2022. It was not immediately clear how many arrests have been carried out by the state team.

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay man, 77, listed as sex offender, charged with voter fraud