The Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS) was created by Governor Ron DeSantis to receive and investigate election-related complaints.  In most cases, the Office subsequently refers the complaints to appropriate county or state law enforcement entities.  A few days ago (January 15, 2024), the OECS issued its latest annual report.

Left-wing media will tell you that the agency did not find much fraud.  Rather, it spent taxpayer funds to harass and confuse minority voters.  But don’t believe it: the findings in the report are serious and disturbing.

In addition to investigations of people who voted when they were not qualified to do so, the Office expanded its quest to third-party voter registration organizations (known as 3PVROs) and to other organizations that have circulated fraudulent petitions, which “have plagued the state for years.”

Third-party registration organizations

About 1,900 third-party registration organizations operate in the state of Florida.  Those entities operate mostly on the left side of the fence, and often with shady and illegal workers.  Here is an example from the OECS Report: a collection agent, who was working for the Florida Democrat party and “Florida Rising Together,” submitted 1,460 forms to a Florida election office in the three months between 1/8/22 and 4/7/22.  An alert election supervisor suspected that the voter applications were fraudulent based on a comparison of voter information on the forms with that on file.  The matter was referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and is under active investigation.

Another third-party registrant is Hard Knocks Strategies, LLC.  OECS has levied “multiple five-figure fines” on Hard Knocks “for wanton disregard of statutory obligations.”  In addition, several of its agents have been arrested for falsifying registration applications in Lee and Charlotte Counties.  Yet the organization seems to thrive.

Recently, the State Attorney’s Office found that Hard Knocks “conducts no or limited background checks” for agents “who are asked to handle sensitive information” — including names, birthdates, last four digits of Social Security numbers, and signature exemplars.  One of the workers is a “fifteen-time convicted felon” who was temporarily out on bond related to two different charges.  While out of jail, he issued numerous phony registrations.

Hard Knocks also tried to qualify over 2,900 voters by submitting registration forms after the statutory deadline.  For this, it has paid nearly $50,000 in fines.  Those fines would have been much higher were it not for statutory penalty caps in place at the time of the violations.

According to a LinkedIn account, Hard Knocks has over 3,000 employees.  How does the organization pay for such a large payroll?  Redbroward.com says that George Soros gave the left-wing registrant millions of dollars in recent years.

Here is how the Soros beneficiary describes itself:

Hard Knocks Strategies is the go-to integrated strategy firm in Florida for reaching, persuading and mobilizing communities of color. ... We are rooted in the communities we work with and are uniquely placed to identify, engage and motivate low-propensity voters.

I wonder what “persuading and mobilizing” entails, and how Hard Knocks manages to “motivate low-propensity voters.”  Does it offer free raffle tickets, or coupons for free pizza?  Just wondering.

But we should not pick on Hard Knocks.  After all, it is just one of 1,900 similar organizations operating in Florida.

Fraudulent petitions related to constitutional initiatives

Like most states, amending the state constitution requires the circulation of petitions that must be signed by thousands of people within strict time frames.  In recent months, Florida had about 18 constitutional initiatives, including the legalization of marijuana, the prohibition of abortion restrictions, clean water rights, and so-called voting rights (making it easier to vote and to cheat).  Organizations on all sides of politics pay workers to round up the signatures necessary to get the initiative qualified.  This is another area of potential abuse, according to Election Crimes Office:

During the last quarter of 2023, OECS and state election officials were inundated with an alarming amount of fraud related to constitutional initiative petitions. ...

In the last quarter of 2023 alone, OECS (from a single petition initiative), received and reviewed credible criminal allegations involving at least 32 individual paid petition circulators collecting and submitting petitions on behalf of the initiative. The allegations spanned at least 35 Florida counties and included over 1,500 Florida voters as potential victims of fraud/identity theft. ...

OECS believes this is the tip of the iceberg with respect to fraudulent activity taking place.

Keep in mind that most fraud is probably not even detected.  And the fraud that is detected is not necessarily reported to the OECS.  Some complaints are relayed directly to local law enforcement.  Those complaints are not included in the agency’s report.

It is evident that the Florida election cops have their hands full in this never-ending battle with election fraudsters.  But what about the states that don’t have dedicated election law enforcement?  In those states, the complaints are mostly ignored by the career prosecutors who are located within deep-blue counties.

Governor Ron DeSantis has created a good model.  Now it is up to leaders in the other states to use the Florida template to build their own election police forces.  When they do, they may be shocked by what they find.

Joe Fried is an Ohio-based CPA who has performed and reviewed hundreds of certified financial audits.  He is the author of Debunked? and a new book called How Elections Are Stolen.  It outlines 23 problems that must be fixed before the 2024 elections.  More information can be found at https://joefriedcpa.substack.com (Joe’s free Substack account).

Image: cagdesign via Pixabay, Pixabay License.