Cynthia Harris, democrat whistleblower on Florida ballot harvesting.
Cynthia Harris, a former Democrat candidate for Orange County commissioner, filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that “a long-running, widespread ballot harvesting operation” was being run in the predominantly black communities around Orlando. That complaint led Florida’s Office of Election Crimes and Security to recommend state police open a criminal investigation, according to a Wednesday report by Just the News.
Florida, which regularly strengthens its election laws, has banned and criminalized organized ballot-trafficking operations. Under Florida law, absentee voters may designate someone to pick up their ballot, but that person may not collect “more than two vote-by-mail ballots per election, other than the designee’s own ballot” or those “for members of the designee’s immediate family.” Election integrity experts have long said the process of having third parties heavily involved in unsupervised ballot trafficking is ripe for election malfeasance and coercion.