‘This is a scam.’ Miami voters come forward with voter registration complaints
Sometime in early December, Juan A. Salazar, a 77-year-old Dominican living in Little Havana, exited the elevator of his building tower in his electric wheelchair to get some fresh air in the parking lot out front, as he usually does. But he recalls that on that particular day, a group of three canvassers wearing red caps and t-shirts that said “Republican Party of Florida” approached him.
According to Salazar, the three workers asked him if he wanted to fill out an application to get his new voter ID card. Salazar has been a registered to vote in Miami-Dade County since 1985, and has been a registered Democrat for even longer, since at least the ’70s, when he was still living in New Jersey. So he told the canvassers there was no need — he knew he got one automatically in the mail before every general election.
But the canvassers insisted. “You will get it faster,” Salazar recalled them saying. Without signing or filling out any form, Salazar said he gave them his name and they pulled up his address. Several weeks later, he received his new voter ID card, now identifying him as a member of the Republican Party of Florida.
“This is a system to eliminate voters so that voters can’t participate in the primary,” Salazar said in an interview with the Miami Herald in front of Haley Sofge Towers, the public housing building he’s lived in for the past five years. “It concerns me about what’s going to happen in these next elections ... This is a scam.”
Salazar’s unusual experience with the canvassers, which was first reported by WPLG Local 10 News, is not unique. He is one of several Miami residents, many of whom are Hispanic and over 60 years old, who are now coming forward with their own claims about having their party affiliation changed from Democrat to Republican after interacting with canvassers.
Helen Aguirre Ferré, the executive director of the Republican Party of Florida, pushed back against the claims from voters like Salazar, saying the party’s voter registration program includes “reviewing any report of concern” about their efforts.
“The RPOF conducts its voter registration in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Individuals are free to make any decision related to party affiliation, which includes choosing not to register with a political party,” said Aguirre Ferré. “Overwhelmingly, Floridians are choosing to register to the Republican Party on their own and this trend shows no sign of subsiding.”
Aguirre Ferré also noted that, contrary to what Salazar said, canvassers who are registering voters for the Florida GOP don’t wear red shirts that say Republican Party of Florida, “based on my understanding.”
Still, the claims from voters have caused outrage from South Florida Democrats. Residents like Salazar who have tried to get attention to their claims have reached out to state Sen. Annette Taddeo, who has provided images and contact information to media outlets and the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, Christina White.
On Friday evening, Miami-Dade Mayor Levine Cava requested that State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle investigate the complaints from residents of Haley Sofge Towers, a county-managed public housing complex in Little Havana. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried also called for an investigation. Both Fried and Taddeo are running as Democrats to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Salazar said he was interviewed on Friday by an investigator from Fernandez-Rundle’s office.
“It’s like when they put up a false candidate who won’t win but steals votes from a candidate,” said Salazar, who lives in Florida Senate District 37, a state district that has been at the center of a sprawling sham candidate investigation.
“It’s the same thing.”
This article has been updated to add information about state Sen. Annette Taddeo’s involvement with the voter complaints.
