Three of the 20 people arrested in Florida for allegedly voting illegally in the 2020 election seemed surprised that they had done anything wrong, according to recently released police bodycam footage.
The Tampa Bay Times obtained the recordings, which were made by local police, following Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ August announcement of charges against the suspects as the first significant public action of his contentious election police unit.
According to DeSantis, the individuals targeted were ineligible to vote because they had been convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, which is prohibited by a 2018 constitutional amendment that grants certain felons the right to vote again. Critics of DeSantis renewed their claims that the election police force would be used as a political tool for the governor after the 20 individuals were among the more than 11 million Florida voters who cast ballots in the 2020 election.
According to court documents, the 20 individuals who were arrested were able to register to vote in spite of their prior convictions, which led them to presumably believe they could lawfully cast ballots. Voter registration forms that require applicants to swear that they are not a felon or that their rights have been restored if they are are at least partially to blame for the confusion. Previous convictions for felony sexual assault and murder are not specifically asked about on the forms.
When officers revealed that 55-year-old Romona Oliver was being arrested for voter fraud, she cried out, “Oh my God,” in one of the bodycam footage.
“Forgery of votes?” “I said,” she said. “I cast my ballot, but I didn’t commit any fraud.”
According to court documents, Oliver was found guilty of second-degree murder in December 2000, but he later registered to vote, received a voter registration card, and cast a ballot in the 2020 election.
athan Hart, who was found guilty of felony molestation in 2006, told police in another video that he was encouraged to register to vote by someone at the “driver’s license place.”
The 49-year-old Hart told officers, “He said, ‘Well, just fill out this form, and if they let you vote, then you can…” “You cannot if they do not.”
“Then there’s your defense,” said an arresting officer, in response to Hart’s statement, “that sounds like a loophole to me.”
In the third video that the Tampa Bay Times was able to obtain, Tony Patterson told officers, “I thought felons were able to vote,” expressing his ongoing perplexity about his arrest.
“If I couldn’t vote, why would you let me?” he asked.
According to court documents, Patterson was found guilty in 2005 of a felony sex crime involving a victim who was younger than sixteen. He attested that “I am not a convicted felon, and if I am, my right to vote has been restored” on a voter registration form in October 2019.
According to an affidavit on the voter fraud charges, Patterson told police that he received a letter and ballot in the mail confirming his eligibility to vote. In October 2020, he completed and mailed his ballot.
Florida should have a suitable voter verification system to screen prospective voters before they register to vote, according to Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, who noted that other states have such systems.
“No one would be arrested if we had a voter verification system on the front end,” Volz stated. “We don’t see arrests on the back end if we can have assurances on the front end.”
Many of the 20 were contacted by Volz’s group to offer assistance in obtaining legal representation and paying bail.
According to Volz, other felons who are eligible to vote but are unsure if they are permitted to do so may be discouraged by the arrests and choose to abstain from voting.
