FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A court has dismissed a third case involving a person arrested by the election police created by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled state legislature.
Terry Hubbard, 63, was among 20 people arrested last August on illegal voting charges, in what was the first action by the controversial new Office of Election Security.
A Broward County judge dismissed the case, saying the state attorney’s office lacks jurisdiction because it can only file charges for crimes committed in two or more counties. Two other lawsuits were quashed for similar reasons.
Election policing has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and voting rights groups, who believe it could be used as a political tool by the governor.
Among those arrested in August were some convicted of murder or sexual offences, and therefore exempt from the constitutional amendment which restored the right to vote to some criminals. Most of these people were from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, where there is a strong Democratic presence.
DeSantis, mentioned as a possible 2024 presidential candidate, pushed the lawmakers to create an election police amid fraud allegations that have multiplied among Republicans, particularly in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the elections. elections.
Cases of voter fraud in the United States are unusual, occur in isolated events, and are usually reported. An Associated Press investigation into the 2020 election found fewer than 475 potential instances of fraud, among the 25.5 million votes cast in the six states that Trump and his allies say they won. DeSantis has in the past praised Florida for running the election smoothly in 2020.
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