20 accused of illegally voting across Florida, DeSantis says

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced 20 people have been arrested and charged with illegally voting across the state, many of them in South Florida.

The theme of Thursday’s news conference centered around election integrity. The governor said those charged with illegally voting included people with felony convictions of murder or sex offenses. He said most are in the three South Florida counties. Although felons can get their rights restored in most cases under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018, murder and sexual assault are exceptions.

“They did not go through any process. They did not get their voting rights restored, and yet they went ahead and voted anyway,” DeSantis said at the news conference. “That is against the law and now they will pay the price.”

Those arrested were charged with third-degree felonies and could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000, DeSantis said. Among those charged are:

• Nathaniel Singleton, 71, was convicted on Feb. 15, 1996, of second-degree murder, making him ineligible to get his voting rights restored, records show. But he filled out a voter registration form in October 2019, saying he was eligible to vote, an affidavit said. He voted in the August primary and November general elections in 2020, the affidavit said.
• Ronald Lee Steel, 51, of Fort Lauderdale, was convicted on Oct. 16, 1990, of murder in the second degree. On June 22, 2018, he completed a Florida voter application falsely affirming he was eligible to vote, his affidavit said. He voted in the November 2020 elections, the report said.

DeSantis’ office had announced that he would make a “major announcement” in Broward, leading to questions about whether he could take action against Broward Elections Supervisor Joe Scott. But he said during Thursday’s news conference that was not what he would be doing. Scott said he planned to issue a statement later in the day.

Joining DeSantis for the news conference were Attorney General Ashley Moody; Secretary of State Cord Byrd; Mark Glass, acting commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement; and Peter Antonacci, the former Broward supervisor of elections who was tapped by DeSantis to oversee a new election crimes division.

Last month, DeSantis tapped Antonacci, 73, to head the state’s new elections investigation office.

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Antonacci has had several high-profile roles in South Florida, including an appointment as Broward supervisor of elections, an appointment as Palm Beach County state attorney, and serving as executive director of the South Florida Water Management District.

The Governor’s Office has said the Office of Election Crimes and Security “is charged with investigating all election crimes in Florida and overseeing the implementation of measures that will ensure Florida’s elections remain secure.”

The objective, according to statements from the governor’s office, is to “ensure that Florida’s Elections are the most secure in the nation.”

[ RELATED: DeSantis picks former Broward elections chief to run new state election investigations office ]

Creation of the Office of the Election Crimes and Security has raised suspicions among Democrats, who have pointed to Florida’s elections in recent years, which have had only isolated problems with alleged fraud.

Broward is the most heavily Democratic county in the state. Still, some local Democratic leaders have voiced respect for Antonacci, saying the supervisors of elections office was generally well run during his tenure.

“This is a special day. This is the day we begin taking fraud seriously by assigning consequences to bad acts,” Antonacci said at the news conference.

He said that while 20 arrests may seem small in a state with more than 14 million registered voters, he noted that U.S. Rep Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick defeated challenger Dale Holness this year by only five votes.

“I’m sure that in the tranche of voters, there were plenty of illegal ballots, and that is awfully unfair to supporters of political candidates,” Antonacci said.

Ahead of DeSantis’ news conference at the courthouse, many Republican guests were being allowed in. Among them were Rep. Chip LaMarca, congressional candidate, and Palm Beach County State Republican Committeeman Joe Budd.

Also on hand were Michele Merrell, the Broward state Republican committeewoman, and Linda Stoch, a major Palm Beach Republican activist.

DeSantis has said Florida’s 2020 election was well run. But as Republican voters have grown more distrustful of elections — largely because of former President Donald Trump repeatedly making false claims of election fraud in 2020 — DeSantis and Republicans who control Florida government made several changes in state election law, including the addition of the new election crime office.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.

[ RELATED: More than 25,000 Broward mail ballots are late getting sent to voters ]