Sixth inmate sentenced following voter fraud investigation at Alachua County Jail
Another inmate has been sentenced for election-related crimes stemming from a voter fraud investigation in Alachua County.
Records show Xavier Lavell Kevon Artis, 23, accepted a plea agreement from the State Attorney's Office and was adjudicated guilty on Tuesday and sentenced to 13 months with credit for 277 days.
Artis won't serve any additional jail time, as his sentence will run concurrently with the five years he received in August 2020 on burglary and weapon charges.
Court records show Artis is scheduled to be released from state custody on Aug. 22, 2024.
Artis is the sixth of 10 inmates to be adjudicated guilty on various crimes related to the 2020 general election following a voter drive held by the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office that occurred at the county jail after the passage of Amendment 4.
Amendment 4, which took effect in 2019, was passed by nearly two-thirds of Florida voters but brought widespread confusion following subsequent changes from Republicans.
The ballot measure was supposed to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or sexual offenses, who had completed their sentences. Republican lawmakers passed a bill requiring that a convicted felon's fees, court costs and restitution be paid before their voting rights are fully restored, which many counties don't even track or have sold debt off to collections agencies.
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Those previously convicted in the Alachua County voter fraud investigation were sentenced to one-to-three years in prison, and their sentences are largely served concurrently while they are incarcerated for other, unrelated charges. Arthur Lang, however, who was originally scheduled to be released on Jan. 29 on previous convictions, was sentenced on June 14 to 18 months in prison and is not scheduled to be released now until Sept. 11.
The cases of four people charged in the investigation have yet to be settled. Jury selection in the cases of Leroy James Ross Jr. and John Boyd Rivers have been scheduled for March 20 and April 17, while court dates for Christopher Timothy Wiggins and Kelvin Bolton have been scheduled for March 20 and March 21.
Bolton wrote The Gainesville Sun a letter from jail last year saying he would never knowingly jeopardize his release date or committed the crimes.
"I would first like to say that there was no malicious intent when I registered to vote and voted," he wrote. "Had I fully understood the laws at that time I would have never done so."
Bolton goes on to say that he registered for the jail's voting seminars held by the county's Supervisor of Elections Office to become educated. He thought he was legally able to register and vote, as an elections worker was present to inform inmates of their rights.
Bolton, who has been charged with providing false voter registration information and two counts of illegal voting, served his latest sentence for theft and simple battery and is out in $30,000 bond awaiting trial on voter fraud charges.
FDLE investigation
An investigation from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement cleared the supervisor's office of any wrongdoing, though it rebuked employees for going into an environment where convicted felons of major crimes may not have fully understood the rules or how they related to their own situations.
A guard who accompanied the worker during the visit, however, stated that inmates were told to consult an attorney if unsure of their situation.
The voter fraud investigation stems from a series of complaints from Mark Glaeser, a Gainesville database researcher and programmer, who says he found thousands of people across the state who registered or voted illegally in 2020. In Alachua County, Glaeser estimates he found about 100 people who voted illegally, 34 of whom were inmates.
Glaeser also sent a list of sex offenders who registered to vote, a claim Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton said she planned to investigate. Soon after in a letter to Kramer dated July 19, 2022, Barton wrote that nine people who are convicted sexual offenders voted illegally in the 2020 general election.
“This documentation clearly shows that these voters were not eligible to cast a ballot in the 2020 General Election under Florida Statute 98.0751 and should not have been registered to vote under the laws of the state of Florida and Amendment 4 due to their convictions of felony sexual offenses,” Barton wrote.
Those investigated by Barton's office have all been convicted of sexual offenses involving either sexual battery/lewd molestation on a minor, possession of child pornography or traveling to a minor to commit an unlawful sexual offense.
“I submit my findings to your office with supporting documentation that indicates there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed,” Barton wrote to Kramer.
In an email to Glaeser, Kramer acknowledged receipt of the most recent cases forwarded by Barton and says that his office is now evaluating whether charges will be filed.
“We have opened these cases in our case management system for further investigation, and filing of criminal charges if appropriate,” Kramer wrote in July.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Sixth inmate sentenced in Alachua County voter fraud investigation
