This month marks two years since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the creation of a new state office dedicated to uncovering voter and election fraud in the state.
"This was my idea," he boasted during the 2022 summer press conference about the new office.
But we've learned the unit is still operating without a full roster of employees.
According to the latest organizational chart we obtained through a public records request, nearly a quarter of positions within the state's 18-person election crimes office remain vacant.
The empty seats include two inspector specialists, a government operations consultant and a senior attorney.
The four vacancies are an improvement from a year and half ago when we were the first to discover that out of the unit’s 15 positions at the time just three were filled.
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In response to questions about ongoing employment vacancies in the office, Mark Ard, spokesperson for the Department of State, stated they are, "nearly at full capacity going into the primary election, doing great and continuing to build."
Critics don't agree.
"I think the office really amounted to much ado about nothing," said Mike Gottlieb, a Broward-based attorney who represents one of the original 20 ex-felons arrested as part of DeSantis’ debut of the office.
While a Broward judge originally dismissed the case over jurisdictional issues, the state recently won on appeal. As a result, the Office of Statewide Prosecutor can now move forward with prosecuting Gottlieb’s client.
"We're a little disappointed, to say the least," said Gottlieb.
Gottlieb and his 66-year-old client, Terry Hubbard of Pompano Beach, plan to keep fighting.
"Absolutely, I think it's a fight worth having," he said.
Hubbard is accused of illegally voting during the 2020 election after being ineligible to vote due to a previous felony conviction for sexual battery.
All original 20 defendants arrested in connection with the new office were charged for casting votes in 2020 despite being ineligible because of previous felony convictions for either murder or sex crimes. Some of those convictions occurred decades ago.
When they were arrested, several defendants appeared on police video, surprised and confused. They claimed that they thought their voting rights had been restored since the state accepted their voter registration applications and even issued them voter registration cards.
Gottlieb, a Democrat, is also a Florida Representative and has been a vocal critic of the state's new election crimes office. The controversial office was created following unsubstantiated claims made by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen. In Florida, DeSantis even praised the state for having a smooth election in 2020.
After DeSantis announced the new office, voting rights advocates were quick to criticize the governor for creating the office as a political move to discourage minority voters from participating in future elections.
"There isn't a need for this office. We didn't see ramped ballot box fraud. We didn't see people stuffing ballot boxes. We didn't see mass vote by mail fraud," explained Gottlieb.
According to the Florida Department of State, this year Florida’s election crimes office has logged 400 complaints and 60 criminal referrals. However, it remains unclear how many of those referrals have resulted in successful prosecutions.
In an annual report released earlier this year, the unit reported receiving more than 1,300 complaints last year, but less than half were referred to other agencies or special agents, according to the report.
As for successful convictions, the election crimes office "knows of at least 25" with over 60 arrests since the unit’s inception, according to department spokesperson Mark Ard.
University of Florida political science professor Dan Smith isn't impressed with the unit's list of accomplishments in two years.
"They're not terribly impressive. We had those types of numbers that were done quietly behind closed doors prior to the creation of this office," he said.
Smith studies felon voting rights and has also been critical of Florida’s need for an election crimes office. Currently, Florida has nearly 15 million registered voters.
"Honestly, it's an entity that doesn't need to exist, shouldn't exist, and has proven itself basically useless," Smith said.
Two years after their arrests, half of the 20 former felons originally targeted by the state’s new election crimes office have either pleaded guilty or were found guilty but received little to no punishment.
The other half, including Gottlieb's client, are still fighting to prove their innocence while their cases linger.
"He's just going on with his life at this point in time. He's put his faith and trust in me to properly represent him," Gottlieb said.
