Ballot-fraud probe embroils commissioner's aide, former Hialeah mayor's uncle

 A ballot-fraud investigation that has already troubled two top Miami-Dade political campaigns has now embroiled the office of a county commissioner and could result in the arrest of the uncle of Hialeah’s former mayor, The Miami Herald has learned.

As part of the widening probe, police identified 164 absentee ballots collected at Commissioner Esteban Bovo’s Hialeah office, where an aide delivered them to a local post office, according to sources close to the investigation.

Bovo said he was shocked and knew nothing of the investigation, which has vexed the reelection campaigns of the county mayor and prosecutor.

Bovo’s aide is cooperating with law-enforcement authorities and, sources said, identified Sergio “ Tío” Robaina as one of the three brokers — known as boleteros in Spanish — who dropped off the ballots at the commissioner’s Hialeah district office, which was used as a central-collection point last month.

Robaina denied dropping off ballots at Bovo’s district office. He’s the uncle of former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, who couldn’t be reached.

“I never left anything there. I didn’t leave a single ballot,” Robaina, 74, said. But he admitted that “sometimes” he does collect ballots and mails them. “I have always collected ballots of different people, even for Esteban Bovo.

“People call and ask for ballots. Then, you go and they put a seal on it and they send it,” Robaina said. “I’ve collected ballots because the person can’t. But mostly they send them. They have to be very old or something. And the ballots have to be sealed.”

Voter Barbara Pino, 52, who is deaf and mute and uses crutches to walk, cast one of the 164 ballots being examined by police. When asked by an El Nuevo Herald reporter who collected her ballot, she wrote on a notepad: “Sergio Robaina.”

Voter Maria Pena, 52, also said Robaina came by recently to recommend candidates, though she did not remember which. She said she dropped her own ballot in a mailbox near a J.C. Penney.

Deisy Cabrera, 56, is the only ballot broker charged so far. She was arrested on charges of forging a voter’s signature on a ballot and violating a county ordinance that prohibits third parties from possessing more than two absentee ballots of other voters.

More here

State releases 'obsolete' list of possible noncitizen voters

It took weeks and weeks, but the state of Florida on Thursday finally released a list of 180,506 voters whose citizenship is in question, based on a cross-check of a database of Florida drivers. But state officials called the list "obsolete" and said they would not use it to "purge" anyone from the right to vote this fall -- leaving open the possibility that some noncitizens could cast ballots.

The list includes voters' names, dates of birth, and their nine-digit voter ID numbers. Information on voters' race, party affiliation home address was not included, and the state said that data was not part of the information the state used to create the list.

An initial review by the Times/Herald showed that people with Hispanic surnames have a strong presence on the list, including 4,969 people with the first name of Jose; 2,832 named Rodriguez; 1,958 named Perez and 1,915 named Hernandez. 

The now-discredited list was compiled last year by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles by cross-matching people identified as noncitizens with the state's voter registration database. The process began after Gov. Rick Scott had asked then-Secretary of State Kurt Browning if any noncitizens were registered to vote in Florida.

About 1,400 of the names on the latest list were also included in a list of 2,600 voters released in April, which triggered purge efforts by county election supervisors and several lawsuits. The state said it released the list only because news organizations and voter advocacy groups had demanded it under Florida public records law.

Scott's chief election spokesman, Chris Cate, issued this statement: "In no circumstances should the inclusion of names on this list be interpreted as a determination by the Florida Department of State regarding the eligibility of any registered voter. The process of identifying and removing non-citizens from the voter rolls has been on hold until information can be verified using the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's SAVE database, which we expect to be able to do very soon using names from a new matching process." 

-- Steve Bousquet

DOJ subpoenas Miami-Dade, 8 other counties in noncitizen voter purge

The U.S. Department of Justice sent subpoenas to nine of Florida's county election supervisors, demanding extensive information as to how the counties may have sought to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls. The information must be provided by Wednesday, Aug. 15 -- the day after next week's statewide primary election.

The biggest county, Miami-Dade, had the most potential noncitizens identified. But, the county says, it only removed about 13 people who affirmed in writing or on the phone that they were noncitizens.

The July 30 subpoenas were issued as part of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee in which the Justice Department has argued that any removals less than 90 days before a statewide election are in violation of federal law. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle denied the federal government's request for an injunction in June after a hearing at which the state said all voter purge efforts have been suspended.

In addition to Miami-Dade, the eight counties ordered to produce records are Pinellas, Hillsborough, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, Collier, Lee, and Bay. The subpoenas demand information "generated, provided of transmitted by Florida to [your] county that identify registered voters, including [your] county registered voters, as potential non-citizens based on Florida's data matching procedures using the Florida Voter Registration System ("FVRS") and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' ("DHSMV") Driver and Vehicle Information ("DAVID") database."

The subpoenas also ask supervisors to "include all documents reflecting the date the voter was removed, and, if applicable, the date the voter was reinstated."   

Posted by stevebousquet

Romney headed to Miami Monday as part of his swing state bus trip

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will travel to Miami late Monday to end the third day of his swing state bus tour. He'll begin the day in St. Augustine, where he'll speak at a campaign rally at Flagler College. He'll then move to Orlando by mid-day and finish the day in Miami.

Will his Miami visit coincide with his vp announcement?

Speculation is mounting that U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is back in the running. Here's an interesting analysis by Nate Silver's 538 blog, concluding that Romney's pick of Rubio would give him a .7 percent boost in beating Obama.

Romney's four-day bus tour begins on Saturday and will take him to Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio.

Connie Mack video response to Nelson ad: Senator's a "typical career politician wants to talk about Hooters and what I did as a kid."

Sen. Bill Nelson's first negative ad against Rep. Connie Mack sure hit a nerve, and it provoked an interesting response: a web-ad rebuttal from the Republican. Conventional campaign wisdom says you shouldn't repeat an opponent's attack. But Mack does a solid job looking serious, sober and tough, thereby trying to judo Nelson to make him like the frivolous one talking about the past instead of the future.

It all makes for a great Senate race in which we'll actually see the candidates (gasp!) debate issues. A caveat: he says Nelson case "the" deciding vote on ObamaCare. That's a tough eye-of-the-beholder argument to make, though it's not necessarily false.

An intriguing aside, this video rebuttal from one candidate to another could soon be a trend. Mack's Republican senate opponent, former Rep. Dave Weldon, released a web ad in which he 'debates' Mack, who wouldn't debate the little-known rival before the Aug. 14 primary. It's not without precedent. Mack's dad and namesake, Connie Mack III, didn't debate his GOP rivals on his way to a U.S. Senate win in 1988, when Republican opponent Bob Merkle traveled around with a cardboard copy of Mack as a mock-mute debate stand-in."

Here's the ad:

The Script:

Race between Legg, Wallace and Korsak may not end Tuesday

The three Republicans running for the Hillsborough-based state Senate District 17 could see their names moved to the November general election ballot open to Democratic and independent voters, according to a highly unusual scenario state officials have shared with local Democrats and one of the candidates.

The rare decision to open a previously closed party primary would be a consequence of the abrupt decision last week by the lone Democrat in the race, Wes Johnson, to abandon the election for "personal reasons."

Hillsborough and Pasco county Democrats have until today to find a replacement for Johnson on the ballot. That seems "unlikely," said Hillsborough County Democratic Party chairman Chris Mitchell.

If they do not? State law is unclear, except to say the Department of State has the authority to decide how to provide for "orderly" elections.

Mitchell said Division of Election attorneys have told party officials that moving the Republican primary to the general election ballot may be the most equitable way of treating all voters. ... Read more

'Angry' Ozzie & 'Say-anything' Karen square off in brutal GOP battle to beat Debbie Wasserman Schultz

WASHINGTON -- There's a wide field of Republicans hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who also serves as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, but so far, the candidates have spent more time bashing each other than the incumbent.

“We've clearly got a spirited primary on our hands here,” Richard DeNapoli, chairman of the Republican Party of Broward County, told a crowd earlier this summer when four of the candidates appeared in a debate.

The melee among the candidates was so eye-opening that veteran political reporter Michael Putney, who moderated one of the debates, wrote that sometimes their statements “bordered on the ludicrous, boorish and unhinged.”

The prize for taking off the gloves may go to Karen Harrington and Ozzie deFaria, the two frontrunners. Harrington, who lost to Wasserman Schultz by 22 points two years ago, sent voters a mailer calling opponent deFaria a “Democrat Dream Candidate,” and referenced 2005 and 2006 arrests over scuffles with his estranged wife's boyfriend. “Anger issues?” the flier reads. “Suited for Congress? Does he represent your values?”

deFaria countered with his own mailer to voters, featuring his ex-wife, Elaine Seibold: “While it was a mistake, it was completely understandable at the time. And they've both moved on and are now friends,” she said. Adds the mailer: “If Ozzie deFaria is willing to tell you about his imperfections, you know he'll be honest with you about fixing America's problems.”

Story is here.

Here's deFaria's newest ad:

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/08/2940919_to-republicans-wasserman-schultz.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy