The trickery of switching a voter’s political party affiliation is growing, says one Miami-Dade state senator.
“This is clearly a statewide effort,” state Sen. Annette Taddeo said.
She talked with reporters outside Haley Sofge Towers, near Loan Depot Park, a mostly senior citizen building where at least four residents had their voter registration switched from Democrat to Republican.
Taddeo, who is running for governor, says she’s getting more reports from other counties of people having their voter registration cards switched.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
“Miami-Dade, Hillsboro and it is probably happening in Orange as well, because these are heavily blue areas,” said Taddeo, referring to communities that are typically Democratic strongholds.
Voters have taken pictures of workers inside the building, helping seniors fill out paperwork, then duping them into switching their voter registration cards from Democrat to Republican.
Third parties, like political activist groups, often engage in voter registration drives.
Local Politics
All things politics in South Florida and throughout the Sunshine State
Miami-Dade Republican Party officials say they're not working with any of those groups now.
But county party Chairman Rene Garcia knows how they work.
“You have folks out there who are looking to register individuals, who want to get credit for registering individuals, and that’s what’s happening,” he said.
The state Republican Party is currently contracting with a grassroots organization outfit called September Group in an effort to register voters.
Florida Republican Party officials say the group is taking measures to avoid any possible confusion amongst voters choosing to change their party affiliation.
NBC 6 political analyst Carlos Curbelo says nasty politics in South Florida is nothing out of the ordinary.
“Whether it’s ghost candidates just filing in order to manipulate election results, or manipulate ballots, or manipulating voter registration forms, it’s far too common down here,” Curbelo said. “But we should not get used to it and we should never accept it.”
