An auto parts salesman and acquaintance of a former Miami lawmaker accused of running a vote-siphoning scheme in a 2020 Florida Senate race pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that he accepted illegal donations and lied on sworn campaign documents, among other things.
Seated alongside his attorney in his downtown law office, Alexis Rodriguez heard the terms of his plea from circuit court Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson, who is overseeing the case.
Rodriguez, who was recruited to run as a no-party candidate in the key Senate District 37 race by former state Senator Frank Artiles, originally pleaded not guilty on four charges related to the alleged scheme. Under state law, those charges carry sentences of up to five years in prison.
In exchange for his plea, Rodriguez will testify that Artiles paid him to run against a Democratic incumbent with the same last name as part of an illegal vote siphoning scheme, which caused the Democratic incumbent to lose by 32 votes, and the Republican opponent to take her seat.
This is not the first time Artiles has appeared in the news. In 2017, he drunkenly shouted the N-word at black Republicans, but refused to resign.
The Virginia Republican Party announced Thursday that it is filing a lawsuit to get Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe off the ballot for November, alleging he failed to sign a candidacy declaration form.
According to the state GOP, the declaration of candidacy document includes the signatures of McAuliffe's press secretary Renzo Olivari and aide Christian Radden confirming they witnessed McAuliffe sign the form, but does not include the candidate's signature, because it was typed electronically.
Virginia GOP Chairman Rich Anderson said in a statement that the lack of McAuliffe's handwritten signature "severely jeopardizes the integrity of our elections in Virginia."
Man Forged Dead Wife's Ballot to Manufacture Evidence of Voter Fraud
A Las Vegas man is charged with forging his dead wife's signature on her ballot, mailing it in, and then claiming it had been stolen.
Donald "Kirk" Hartle, 55, faces two charges relating to the 2020 election, records showed. The charges come after an investigation from the Secretary of State's Office, which investigates any voter fraud allegations in connection with the Nevada Attorney General's Office.
Rosemarie Hartle's ballot was one of two cited by Nevada Republicans as evidence of voter fraud in Nevada. "How did the forged signature pass Clark County's signature verification machine"" the Nevada GOP tweeted in November regarding the case. "And this is isn't the only case of a deceased person voting in NV."
Hartle is charged with voting using the name of another person and voting more than once in the same election. Hartle is facing up to four years in prison and a fine of $10,000.
Nearly a year after offering up a hefty bounty for evidence of voter fraud in the wake of Donald Trump's loss, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has handed out his first reward. But instead of going to an informant who smoked out fraud by Democrats, Patrick's five-figure payout went to a poll worker in Pennsylvania whose tip led to a single conviction of illegal voting by a registered Republican.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, tipster Eric Frank said he would have turned in anyone he saw voting illegally regardless of party. But he also acknowledged the irony of the situation. "It's my belief that they were trying to get cases of Democrats doing voter fraud. And that just wasn't the case," Frank said. "This kind of blew up in their face."
VA Officials: Youngkin's Underage Son Tried to Cast Illegal Vote
The 17-year-old son of Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin tried to cast a ballot in Tuesday's gubernatorial election twice despite being too young to vote, Fairfax County officials said in a statement released Friday. The statement, which identified the teen as Youngkin's 17-year-old son, emphasized that he did not end up voting and stated that he did not violate any state election laws.
The teen walked into the voting precinct inside the Great Falls Library on Tuesday afternoon, presenting his driver's license to election officials when asked for a proof of identity, according to Jennifer Chanty, the precinct captain there. About 20 minutes later, the teen returned, insisting that he be allowed to vote, saying that a friend who was also 17 had been allowed to cast a ballot.
A Villager who is a registered Republican has been arrested on a warrant charging her with casting more than one election ballot.
Joan Halstead, 72, of the Village of Palo Alto was arrested at 6:20 p.m. Monday on the Sumter County warrant charging her with fraud, "casting more than one ballot at any election." She was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released at 8:28 p.m. Monday after posting $2,000 bond.
Sumter County voter records indicated she registered as a Republican on June 29, 2020. Her social media activity suggests she is a supporter of Donald Trump.
In August, Republican state senator Frank Artiles was arrested in a Republican "ghost candidate" scheme, designed to siphon votes from Democratic candidates.
Yesterday, it was reported that top executives at utility giant Florida Power & Light worked closely with the political consultants who orchestrated the scheme.
The records show that the consultants who controlled Grow United Inc., the dark-money nonprofit at the center of the "ghost candidate" scandal, billed FP&L for more than $3-million days before they began moving money through the entity.
The records also show FP&L has donated more than $10-million in recent years to other dark-money nonprofits controlled by some of the same consultants—and FP&L CEO and President Eric Silagy has personally coordinated with those consultants on campaign contributions made through their nonprofits.
Oh, that's because the biased mods banned them for being assholes and breaking the rules, not because they're cowering with their tails between their legs...
__________________ Sig by Nuke Nixon
Last Edited by Blakemore on Jan 1st, 2000, at 00:00 AM
I say the election was stolen all the time. And I stand by that, no matter the consequences.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.