Scott Maxwell: In Florida, not all voter fraud is considered equal

A few weeks ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was campaigning in Illinois when he wanted to let voters there know how popular he was back home — and also take a few swipes at the blue state he was visiting.

So he told Illinois Republicans that his re-election margin of victory was so big in some of Florida’s rural counties that it reminded him of the stories he’d heard about Chicago, saying: “I just assumed it was dead people voting or something.”

Presumably, the line got a good laugh from the crowd in Peoria.

What DeSantis didn’t tell the crowd was that, just a few months earlier, it was residents in Florida — not Illinois — who’d admitted to casting illegal ballots. And not just any residents, but residents in the rural parts of Florida where the governor had said he’d done so well.

Four residents of The Villages were charged with voting twice in the 2020 election and later admitted guilt.

Yet if you think DeSantis — who has claimed that combating voter fraud is a top priority for him — made sure Florida threw the book at those Villages residents, think again.

The Villagers weren’t sent to prison. They weren’t even sent to trial. Instead, they were offered deals that allowed them to avoid a conviction as long as they entered a pre-trial intervention program that involved community service. And, as it turns out, even the community service was optional for some who wanted to “buy out” their community-service hours at a cost of $10 per hour.

So to recap what we have so far: DeSantis jokes about voter fraud in Chicago … while actual voter fraud took place under his watch in his own state … in the counties where he noted he does so well … and where the admitted culprits were allowed to go on their merry way.

But the story doesn’t end there. Because DeSantis’ newly created election police force is going aggressively after other people — including some in dark blue, urban counties who were given cards by state officials telling them it was OK to vote.

One of them is Orlando resident Peter Washington.

Washington was convicted of a sex crime in 1996 that originally netted him a probationary sentence. He has since tried to reform his life and was even worked to become a minister. He thought Florida’s new law restoring voting rights to former felons covered him. So he asked for permission to vote — and the state gave him a voting ID.

The governor’s new elections squad, however, says the ID never should’ve been given, since Washington’s 27-year-old crime was a felony sex offense. So they charged him with voting fraud. Washington lost his job after the governor made a big show about his arrest and 19 others.

Washington’s lawyer got the charge dismissed after arguing the state was improperly prosecuting him. But the state is appealing the ruling, trying to pursue a felony voting charge, punishable by $5,000 and up to 5 years in prison.

Maybe you’re inclined to say: Fair enough. Except here’s where the story takes yet another turn. Because the state didn’t seek fines or prison time for other people caught doing the same thing as Washington — when those voters live in rural, conservative counties anyway.

As the Sentinel’s Christopher Cann recently reported, GOP State Attorney Bill Gladson — the same prosecutor for Marion and Sumter counties who approved deals for the Villages residents who voted twice — also decided not to prosecute other residents accused of doing what Washington did in voting when they weren’t supposed to as former felons.

Instead, Gladson’s office said the former sex offenders in his neck of the woods who improperly voted deserved a pass because “The individuals were mistakenly issued registration cards.”

A letter from his office went on to say the accused were led “to believe they could legally vote in the election” and that “The evidence fails to show willful actions on a part of these individuals. Therefore, the State is unable to file charges.”

You can make a good-faith argument that Gladson is absolutely right. Why would the state prosecute people who asked for and were granted permission to vote?

More importantly, though, why wouldn’t the state treat all former felons who were mistakenly given the go-ahead to vote the same way?

Yet the state gave those former sex offenders in rural Florida a break while it’s still going after Washington in Orlando.

“There’s no equal protection here,” said Washington’s attorney, Roger Weeden. “It’s disparate treatment.”

He’s right. And if you look at all the cases above, it’s inarguable that the state of Florida handles allegations of voter fraud very differently depending upon who casts the ballots and where. Some are prosecuted by sympathetic local prosecutors. Others by zealous statewide ones.

So now let’s put this all together and what do we have?

The governor says he’s committed to rooting out voting fraud … even though some of the people in his state get off with wrist slaps … while others are let off altogether … while others in Democratic strongholds are still being targeted.

But sure, Illinois is the punchline when it comes to voting fraud.

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