How Do I Register Republican In Fl
Signatures of some voters in flat buildings and high-rise towers in South Florida whose registration was changed to Republican appeared noticeably unlike than on paperwork those same voters signed earlier, according to a new review of voting records.
The signature comparisons, performed this week in Miami equally journalists from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications investigated possible voter registration fraud, found that some by and nowadays signatures showed obvious differences in size of letters, and strokes and flourishes of private elements of names.
The review focused on paperwork for a small sample of a dozen voters who said in interviews that their political party amalgamation was changed to Republican despite never submitting the changes themselves, not approving anyone else to practice so or not realizing it was done.
The differing signatures add together to mounting circumstantial evidence of shady political tricks in South Florida, suggesting that unidentified canvassers during the weeks around Thanksgiving may have inverse the party affiliation without permission of by and large elderly, Hispanic voters living in public housing in the area to make them Republicans.
Interviews with scores of area voters and a new analysis of voter data — as well performed by UF'southward journalism school — showed the suspicious activity extended to at least twenty more high-density, residential buildings over a five-mile expanse – beyond just the twin Haley Sofge Towers public housing complex that has been the focus of media and investigators in recent weeks.
The analysis showed that voters in nigh two dozen buildings in a six-mile radius had their party registration changed to Republican at rates more than 10 times the statewide average during the past year. Amidst political party-switchers, only four% of those buildings' residents changed their political party affiliation to the Democratic Party.
The buildings are located in Hialeah and the Little Havana and Allapattah neighborhoods west of downtown Miami and due east of Miami International Airport. Their dense populations would have appealed to canvassers attempting to visit as many voters as possible and equally efficiently every bit possible. Most of those living in the apartments and high rises were Hispanic, elderly residents. Nearly of the buildings are public housing for lower-income residents.
Handwritten registration forms for some of those afflicted voters — obtained this week nether Florida's public records law but with the signatures blacked out — showed handwriting that did not appear similar to paperwork previously submitted by the aforementioned voters.
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Under Florida police, ballot officials are barred from releasing copies of voters' signatures — merely they can exist inspected in person, by appointment, under supervision in the Miami-Dade Canton Elections Department. That happened this week. Election officials displayed signatures side past side on a large video screen. No photographs of the signatures were permitted.
In many cases, the handwriting in fields for address, telephone numbers and other details appeared to match those on other registration forms submitted during the period, indicating at to the lowest degree two people with distinctive writing styles may have been involved in many of the changes. Comparison signatures on those forms wasn't possible until a reporter was permitted to view them in the election department's offices.
The newly obtained paperwork also indicated about of the party-switching occurred over a menstruation of a few weeks around Thanksgiving. The documents showed ane alter as early on as the summer but most between October through mid-December. One especially popular window for the registration changes appeared to be Nov. 11 — Veterans' Solar day, a national holiday, when many voters would have been in their homes.
In the signature-matching review, some signatures concluding twelvemonth or earlier this year appeared to be shut or virtually identical to those on records filed with the Miami-Dade Election Section in 2019, 2018 or earlier. That could mean voters who protested they were victims signed forms without paying close attention, were tricked into signing partially completed forms, were confused or forgot what they had signed.
Just in about half the cases, signatures appeared much different. For example, the signature for Tomas G. Munoz Izquierdo, 72, of Hialeah was significantly different. Information technology was written on a different slant and some letters were shaped noticeably differently.
It'due south possible for the signatures of adults to change over time. Amid handwriting experts, known every bit forensic document examiners, so-called signature kinematics — especially vertical stroke duration, amplitude and velocity — are known to be affected by avant-garde age, especially among men.
Because signatures tin can evolve, the ballot department in Miami-Dade does non attempt to verify or cosign signatures on registration forms when voters update their home address, for example, or change their political affiliation, said Roberto Rodriguez, the department's assistant deputy supervisor of elections, government diplomacy and media relations. The department confirms a voter has supplied the correct Social Security number or driver's license, he said.
Isis Rodriguez, 66, of Hialeah said in an interview she was shocked when a reporter told her she was a newly registered Republican as of Nov. iii. She said she was approached twice by women discussing voter registrations, but she said she gave them no personal data and no permission to update her records.
"Await, information technology says Republican," she said in Castilian as she held her voter registration card.
Her neighbor, Milagros Llanes, 68, said she has been a Democrat since becoming a U.S. denizen. She too was surprised that her records were inverse July 23 to show her as a Republican. She remembered people knocking on her door to discuss voting and indicating they knew her proper name and abode accost. She said others visited her as recently as earlier this calendar month.
Caridad Fundora, 83, of Hialeah said two women asked for her voter registration carte du jour and said they would ship a new one in the mail. The new card showed her as a Republican, fifty-fifty though she said she never asked to modify parties.
About 15 minutes north, Barbara Roche, 72, of Opa-locka said her political party affiliation was changed without permission. Records show this was done Oct. 23. Her signature was distinctive and appeared identical on paperwork she had signed previously. Roche lives at a residence owned by Cosmic Health Services, a ministry of the Archdiocese of Miami that provides healthcare, affordable senior living and home health services.
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"We didn't know considering we are onetime," Roche said. "If we hadn't seen the news about it, nosotros wouldn't accept even known. I don't know what's happening with this country."
Of the 742 voters in the 23 buildings who changed their political party affiliation during 2021, 92% were newly registered Republicans at the end of the year. Statewide, the Republican Political party grew by i.1% terminal year. Numbers of registered Democrats overall roughshod by 1.2% — about of those voters declared themselves not to exist affiliated with any party.
In a metropolis-owned, 72-unit of measurement apartment complex for the elderly known as Villa Alegria in Hialeah, 30 of the complex'due south 90 total voters changed their affiliation last year. Fully 29 became newly registered Republicans; one switched to become a Democrat.
Changing a voter's party affiliation would have no effect on their ability to cast a election in special and general elections, and a demonstrated ability to engage in registration fraud does not translate to being able to change ballots or election results. But Florida remains a closed-primary country, so Republicans can't vote in Democratic primaries, and vice versa.
Some voters who said they were victimized said they remembered at least two sets of volunteers circulating in their buildings: Two young women working together, plus an older couple. They could not be identified.
Democrats in Florida have seized on the issue since the earliest news reports on Feb. 2 highlighting anomalies at the Sofge Towers. The party was stung last twelvemonth, in November, when registered Republicans officially outnumbered registered Democrats for the first time in land history. GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the development Nov. 5 — fifty-fifty as the registration paperwork in South Florida indicated efforts there were continuing.
The Miami Herald reported last calendar week on the remarkable numbers of residents in the twin Haley Sofge Towers and one nearby building whose registration inverse to Republican over the final three months. Information technology also constitute clusters of people in roughly 75 buildings where at least five people had their registration changed over the same menstruum, saying 90% of them became Republicans.
Nationally, Democrats looking ahead to November's elections — including DeSantis' re-election race — have expressed doubts over the party's rails record in Florida. President Donald Trump carried Florida in 2016 and 2020, and Republicans have realized gains in the statehouse and in Congress. In Florida, the GOP controls the governor'southward mansion, both houses in the Legislature, both U.Due south. Senate seats and 17 of 27 congressional seats.
Democrats have called for country and federal criminal investigations into the suspicious voter registrations in S Florida.
Land Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, who is running for the Autonomous nomination in the governor's ballot, said a woman in Hillsborough County she did non identify told her that campaign workers could earn bonuses for registering voters every bit Republicans.
"They wanted this so that those donors and those investors in Autonomous campaigns walk away from Florida, which is exactly what many of them did," Taddeo said.
The Republican Party of Florida has said in a statement that it lawfully conducts its voter registration drives. It besides has said it volition begin presenting voters with a disclaimer in Spanish and English for voters to acknowledge they are aware they would exist irresolute their party affiliation. In the statement, it identified its registration vendor as September Group LLC, which did non respond to a reporter's inquiries by electronic mail or phone Friday.
DeSantis said whatever illicit political party changes should be investigated, and a recent case involving the governor himself demonstrated his tough-on-the-issue stance.
"Anything trying to violate election constabulary is something that, I think, needs to be taken seriously," DeSantis said in a news conference Feb. 7. "If they're changing to Republican, and that's illicit, they need to be held accountable. If they're doing the reverse, they need to be held accountable."
The governor'due south home address on his ain voter registration records was illegally inverse in 2020 by a 20-year-old man in Naples who said he did it to testify weaknesses in the land election organisation.
In that example, DeSantis rejected a plea understanding to take the criminal charges dropped confronting Anthony Steven Guevara, who pleaded no contest to ii felony charges and remains on probation until June.
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida Higher of Journalism and Communications. The reporters can exist reached at alugo2@freshtakeflorida.com and dsevares@freshtakeflorida.com.
Source: https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/politics-issues/2022-02-19/signatures-of-florida-voters-whose-registration-changed-to-republican-different-than-prior-samples
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