Politics - News Analysis

Uh-Oh: Donald Trump Appears to Have Committed Felony Voter Fraud

Florida law calls for fines and possible jail time when one submits false information in a voter registration document. Trump seems unaware or unbothered by laws. His carefree approach to laws might well be a serious issue for him in this matter, as it appears that he violated Florida law by casting an illegal ballot.

Trump provided false or misleading information in his voter registration documents. The documents contained warnings that specifically highlighted that Florida prohibits nonresidents from voting in Florida. Trump doesn’t qualify as a “Florida resident.”

According to the Washington Post:

The voter application is dated Sept. 27, 2019 — the same day that Trump made the domicile change. On one of his forms that day he was telling Florida officials that his “legal residence” was Washington, D.C., and on another he was saying he was a “bona fide resident” of Palm Beach.

Florida voter-registration applicants are warned on registration forms that they may be subject to fines and even prison time if they do not provide truthful information.

Oops.

It is no small matter that gets waived away, either. Providing “false” information and illegally registering is taken quite seriously, as it should be. There is precedent.

There has been at least one recent instance in Florida in which a public official faced legal consequences for registering to vote at an address that was not her legal residence. Last year, the city manager of Deltona, Fl., entered into an agreement with the local state’s attorney’s office to pay more than $5,000 in fees and reimbursements for the state’s investigation to avoid being prosecuted on criminal charges in a voter-registration case. She had registered to vote using the address of Deltona’s City Hall, rather than her home address, and had cast ballots in elections using that registration.

Well, again, oops.

Often it appears that Trump is unbothered by “technical” laws (such as the rules for charitable organizations, or the rules about fraud in educational institutions). He doesn’t admit to being wrong very often (ever?) and is more likely to spend $200,000 fighting this up to the Florida Supreme Court, or until he just exhausts Florida into giving up. It would be highly uncharacteristic for Trump to come out and admit he was wrong and offer to pay a fine.

Any decent human being in his position would do exactly that. Apologize to the state of Florida and offer an agreed compromise. No problem. He simply isn’t that type.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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