Voter Fraud Extremely Rare In Florida: ‘More Likely To Get Hit By A Bolt Of Lightning’

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

Florida authorities claim that they’re purging thousands of voters from the rolls in order to protect the integrity and fairness of the democratic system, but according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, voting fraud is not a widespread problem in the state:

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 178 cases of alleged voter fraud have been referred to the department since 2000. [...]

Fraud, [Ion Sancho, the 24-year veteran election supervisor in Leon County] said, simply isn’t much of an issue. “You are more likely to walk out of your office and get hit by a bolt of lightning,” he said.

Since a 2004 law removed a signature requirement for absentee ballots, the state has not prosecuted anyone for absentee-ballot fraud. Similarly, reforms adopted in the wake of the state’s 2000 recount “required counties to use optical-scan voting machines, created statewide standards for recounts and provided $2 million for a centralized voter database” — further reducing instances of abuse. There are more than 11 million registered voters in Florida.

The Department of Justice has asked Florida to end its current voter purging operation, but state officials — who are expected to respond on Wednesday to DOJ’s request — are likely to continue removing voters from the rolls. “We’ve been acting responsibly through this process,” an official told the Miami Herald. “And our letter will reiterate that while addressing the concerns raised by DOJ. We have continued our efforts to identify ineligible voters.”