Florida elections opinion could make uncovering fraud more difficult

[mfcorey1]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s division of elections has issued an opinion that could make it tougher to uncover elections fraud.

And in Miami-Dade County, the state’s hotbed of absentee shenanigans, the elections chief who sought the opinion is eager to follow suit.

In the Nov. 18 opinion, state Division of Elections Director Maria I. Matthews wrote that county elections supervisors may shield from the public Internet Protocol addresses identifying the origin of absentee-ballot requests.

Penelope Townsley, the Miami-Dade elections supervisor, plans to keep IP addresses secret.

Had that policy been in place earlier this year, the Miami Herald would not have been able to conduct an investigation that led to the incarceration of Miami Democratic Congressman Joe Garcia’s former chief of staff.

Matthews wrote that if elections supervisors deem IP addresses to be information “necessary” to keeping absentee-ballot records, as Miami-Dade has in recent months, then the addresses are exempt from public disclosure — with a glaring exception.

Political parties, committees, candidates and their campaigns — the very people who have engaged in fraud — will still be able to obtain the information.

So will elections administrators, canvassing board members and voters seeking records of their own ballots. But not the public.

Brittany Lesser, a spokeswoman for the division of elections, indicated in a statement Friday that each county has wiggle room to choose what information to disclose — essentially leaving the final decision to Miami-Dade.

“Locally elected Supervisors of Elections should be provided the flexibility needed to best crack down on fraud, while managing elections within their own communities,” Lesser said.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/21/3831315/florida-elections-opinion-could.html#storylink=cpy

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. Ahhhh ...

“Locally elected Supervisors of Elections should be provided the flexibility needed to best crack down on fraud, while managing elections within their own communities,” Lesser said.

The old, "If you don't see it, it hasn't happened" approach to fraud.

I gather from the article, just about the only group that doesn't have access to the information is the media ... the group that recently used the information to uncover criminal conduct.

Boy ... I remember a day when the media was one group that politicians/political machines sought to avoid p!ssing off.