On Wednesday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the arrests of two state residents on charges related to illegal voting in prior elections.
In an agency press release, the department revealed that Donna Prentes Brady had been taken into custody “on two counts of casting more than one ballot in any election, a third-degree felony.” An Ocala resident, Brady is accused of double-voting in both the 2020 state primary and general elections. This included voting in person in Marion County, Florida, and voting by mail in Sussex County, New Jersey.
Meanwhile, Fort Walton Beach resident Toye Ann La Rocca was separately arrested on “one count of false swearing of voter registration information and two counts of unqualified electors willfully voting, all third-degree felonies.” According to the agency, La Rocca violated state law last year by voting while on probation for a felony DUI conviction. The first alleged instance was an in-person vote in the Okaloosa County primary election, while the second was a vote by mail in the general election.
The Fifth and First Judicial Circuits of the Office of the State Attorney will prosecute Brady and La Rocca’s cases, respectively.
Last year, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 524, which, in addition to implementing multiple election integrity-related initiatives, created the Office of Election Crimes and Security to “investigate election law violations.” While the office doesn’t possess the power to charge individuals for breaking the law, it can investigate potential violations and refer its findings
