{"id":1720804,"date":"2022-11-02T06:14:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T10:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1720804"},"modified":"2022-11-02T06:19:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T10:19:20","slug":"video-shows-florida-dem-election-official-lied-about-not-knowing-anything-about-ballot-harvesting-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/video-shows-florida-dem-election-official-lied-about-not-knowing-anything-about-ballot-harvesting-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Shows Florida Dem Election Official Lied About Not Knowing Anything About Ballot Harvesting Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvideo-shows-florida-dem-election-official-lied-about-not-knowing-anything-about-ballot-harvesting-problems%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1720804&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/41936810055_424914fdca_o.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>When news broke that Florida\u2019s election crimes division had recommended state police launch an investigation into an alleged ballot-trafficking scheme in Orange County, the local supervisor of elections claimed he was completely unaware of any issues regarding the practice. But a newly unearthed video shows him addressing multiple queries about such operations this past July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand. I understand,\u201d elections supervisor Bill Cowles, a Democrat, told a woman who said, \u201cthere are ballot chasers\u201d operating in Orange County. This was after another woman asked him about the possibility of someone dropping off 50 ballots to be counted. He noted that \u201cthe ballot still counts\u201d even if it got to the ballot box through the \u201cbad actions\u201d of \u201csomebody else,\u201d and he said investigations wouldn\u2019t take place until after the election if anyone were able to document drop-box abuse.<\/p>\n<p>Cynthia Harris, a former Democrat candidate for Orange County commissioner, filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that \u201ca long-running, widespread ballot harvesting operation\u201d was being run in the predominantly black communities around Orlando. That complaint led Florida\u2019s Office of Election Crimes and Security to recommend state police open a criminal investigation, according to a Wednesday <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/politics-policy\/elections\/florida-opens-criminal-probe-democrat-whistleblowers-evidence-ballot?utm_medium=social_media&#038;utm_source=twitter_social_icon&#038;utm_campaign=social_icons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> by Just the News.<\/p>\n<p>Florida, which regularly strengthens its election laws, has banned and criminalized organized ballot-trafficking operations. Under <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leg.state.fl.us\/statutes\/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&#038;URL=0100-0199\/0101\/Sections\/0101.62.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Florida law<\/a>, absentee voters may designate someone to pick up their ballot, but that person may not collect \u201cmore than two vote-by-mail ballots per election, other than the designee\u2019s own ballot\u201d or those \u201cfor members of the designee\u2019s immediate family.\u201d Election integrity experts have long said the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawinsider.com\/dictionary\/ballot-harvesting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">process<\/a> of having third parties heavily involved in unsupervised ballot trafficking is ripe for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/election-integrity\/commentary\/vote-harvesting-recipe-coercion-and-election-fraud\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">election malfeasance<\/a> and coercion.<\/p>\n<p>Harris placed some of the blame for the purported ballot-harvesting issues on Cowles, saying he\u2019s \u201cbeen there since 1996\u201d and that the problem \u201chas been a blind eye turned on our community.\u201d When asked about Harris\u2019s allegations by Just the News, Cowles claimed he was \u201cnot aware of any issues regarding ballot harvesting\u201d and was \u201cunable to comment on that at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The newly unearthed video obtained by The Federalist, however, puts Cowles\u2019 assertion in doubt.<\/p>\n<p>Back in July, Cowles <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo\/?fbid=5719536401409577&#038;set=a.541473642549238\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spoke<\/a> at a virtual event on voter registration and vote-by-mail. During the question period, a woman asked a few questions about dropping off absentee ballots. First, she wondered if the rules limiting ballot drop-offs to family members applied also to the drop boxes stationed outside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was my question regarding the ballots \u2014 absentee ballots,\u201d began a woman named Pam, who is reportedly Pam Powell, a former <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Pam_Powell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2022 Democrat primary candidate<\/a> for Florida\u2019s 41st House District. \u201cYou mentioned about the drop-off ballots having to be family members once we go inside the location to drop the ballots off. My question is: There\u2019s a dropbox outside. Is there a limit on the number that you can put in that dropbox?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cowles said the statute limiting ballot harvesting to immediate family members plus two other individuals also applied at drop boxes. He said there would be cameras on the drop box at the main election office and that a security guard would be monitoring it. \u201cWe\u2019ll have that in play. And it\u2019s a personal responsibility,\u201d Cowles said about following the law. He added, \u201cThere\u2019s no documentation, but there is documentation in terms that there are cameras on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Powell followed up. \u201cRight. So my question, if someone is driving through there and they\u2019ve picked up, let\u2019s say 50 absentee ballots, so to speak,\u201d Powell began her query.<\/p>\n<p>Cowles stopped her to point out that only people who request mail-in ballots receive them.<\/p>\n<p>Event host Patricia Rumph interjected: \u201cBill? I think what Pam is addressing is, yes, I know that we don\u2019t give ballots to anyone, but there are ballot chasers.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thecampaignschool.com\/vbm-chase-win-one-voter-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ballot chasers<\/a> are third-party operatives, usually paid, who inject themselves into unsupervised voting processes. <\/p>\n<p>In her sworn August affidavit, Harris said ballot chasing occurs when individuals called \u201cballot brokers\u201d visit voters in their homes and assist them with\u00a0filling out a request for a mail-in ballot, something they are often paid to do. Upon the ballot\u2019s arrival in the mail, voters are purportedly instructed to hold off on filling it out until the broker returns, at which point the broker takes the ballot envelope from the voter, fills it out, and has the voter sign the envelope. In other instances, Harris alleged, brokers advise voters on who the best candidates are, have the voter fill out the ballot and sign the envelope, and proceed to leave the voter\u2019s residence with the completed ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Barring the possibility of an extremely large immediate family, the question of someone \u201cpicking up\u201d 50 ballots would seem to reference a ballot-harvesting operation. In addition to Rumph <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Patricia_Rumph\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">previously running<\/a> for an Orange County Board of County Commissioners seat in 2018, her campaign expense reports list payments to one of the people Harris identified as a ballot broker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand. I understand,\u201d Cowles said in response to Rumph\u2019s clarification about ballot-chasing operations. \u201cAnd it\u2019s, again, it comes down to everybody monitoring each other and reporting it.\u201d But then he added guidance about how harvested ballots always count anyway and how efforts to investigate such operations always take place after the election, not before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bottom line is, the flip side to it is the courts have ruled the voter doesn\u2019t get penalized for the bad actions of maybe somebody else. The ballot still counts, but it\u2019s got to be that documentation to proceed with the investigating,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd as most things happen in election situations, they always seem to happen after the election and not before the election is over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cowles\u2019 office declined The Federalist\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-rumble-com wp-block-embed-rumble-com\"><\/figure>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When news broke that Florida\u2019s election crimes division had recommended state police launch an investigation into an alleged ballot-trafficking scheme in Orange County, the local supervisor of elections claimed he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1719892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1720804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1720804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1720804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1720804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1719892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1720804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1720804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1720804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}