Fraudulent voting prosecutions stuck in limbo between Supervisor of Elections and State Attorney’s Office

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

Communications between Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton, State Attorney Brian Kramer, and Darry Lloyd, Chief Investigator for Kramer’s office, indicate that Barton has referred a list of sexual offenders who allegedly voted illegally to Kramer, but Kramer’s office has told her they don’t have the resources to investigate them for criminal prosecution. The case remains in limbo, with both offices stating that they have completed their responsibilities in the matter.

Nine sexual offenders allegedly voted illegally in 2020

Citizen activist Mark Glaeser notified Barton on March 30 that based on his research, nine people who are either registered Sexual Offenders or Sexual Predators had cast ballots in the 2020 General Election. Under the Florida Constitutional Amendment known as Amendment 4, a felony conviction for a sexual offense makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida unless that person’s right to vote is restored by the State Clemency Board. Barton’s office informed Glaeser on May 20 that seven of the voters had been removed from the rolls, and two are still in the removal process. 

An email from Kramer to Glaeser on May 24 stated that Barton’s office had called his office to “find out who to refer such matters to.” Kramer wrote that he told Barton’s office that the cases should go to an investigative agency that has jurisdiction “over the venue of the alleged offense.” 

Kramer later wrote to Glaeser on June 7 that Barton’s office had not forwarded “any request for prosecution or investigation to our office. Doing so, would result in our forwarding the request onto law enforcement.” 

Barton: Referring potential voter fraud to the State Attorney has been standard for many years

Glaeser asked Barton for clarification, and she wrote to him that “it has been a has been a consistent, acceptable practice of my office and previous Supervisors of Elections to refer potential voter fraud and illegal voting to the State Attorney’s Office per Florida Statute F.S. 104.42(1) which states, ‘The Supervisor of Elections is authorized to investigate fraudulent registrations and illegal voting and to report his or [her] finding to the local state attorney…’”

Barton wrote that she had contacted Lloyd by phone on May 20 and printed out all the documentation on the nine cases and that Lloyd had come to her office on May 23. She wrote that contrary to Kramer’s assertion, she never asked Lloyd “any questions about ‘who to refer such matters to.’” 

Barton wrote that Lloyd “reviewed the paperwork, but did not take the paperwork with him, but instead separated the paperwork into two different stacks: one stack of those voter’s [sic] living in the city limits of Gainesville, and the other of the voter’s [sic] residing in the County.” Barton said she was told that Lloyd made two phone calls while at her office: one to Gainesville Police Department, and one to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. She continued, “He told my senior clerk that someone from GPD and ACSO would be by to pick up the documentation to handle the investigations.”

Barton told Glaeser by email that she called Lloyd to find out why he didn’t take the paperwork, and he told her that he had spoken with Kramer, who advised him to have GPD and ACSO collect the information.

Barton sent documents to Kramer’s office

Barton said that as of May 27, nobody had picked up the paperwork. She wrote, “To prevent further delays in this matter,” she sent the documents by certified mail to Kramer and “I have completed my obligation in this matter… [Kramer] may decide to forward the information to other investigative agencies locally and if so, that will be his decision.”

On May 31, Barton sent the paperwork to Kramer by certified mail, with a cover letter stating, “The following voter records have been reviewed by my office and I am turning them over to your office to investigate potential voter fraud under Amendment 4.”

Lloyd: “Investigations should go to a primary investigative agency”

Barton and Lloyd spoke by phone on June 8, and Barton followed up with a letter. In it, she wrote that Lloyd “commented to me that you do not have the resources and time needed to investigate voter fraud and illegal voting in the 8th Judicial Circuit which covers several counties.” She wrote that Lloyd said he didn’t have the staff that the previous Chief Investigator had, plus he also serves as the Public Information Officer and has oversight of the newly-created violent crime task force. 

In Barton’s letter, she told Lloyd that she believes her responsibility under Florida statutes is to refer illegal voting to the State Attorney’s Office, and that has been the practice of the two previous Supervisors of Elections in Alachua County. Lloyd replied by email that he had received her letter and “will wait for further instructions by the State Attorney.”

Lloyd told Alachua Chronicle that “investigations should go to a primary investigative agency,” which would then send their findings to the State Attorney’s Office to prosecute. He said the County could provide investigative services to Barton to do the investigation in her office: “She has authority to do that.” 

Lloyd also acknowledged that Kramer’s interpretation of his responsibility differs from previous 8th Judicial State Attorneys: “Since State Attorney Kramer has taken over, his position is to send it to an investigative agency.”

Despite Kramer’s comment to Glaeser that he would refer the cases to law enforcement for investigation if Barton sent them, Lloyd told us that is not their responsibility. Barton similarly told Glaeser that she has “completed my obligation in this matter” by sending the documents to Kramer’s office, and “it is not my offices’ [sic] responsibility to follow-up with him once I have reported my findings to his office.”