“The lack of statutory authority should apply to all their remaining cases as well.” “The precedent of this case should have an impact on those cases, too,” said Neil Volz, deputy director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. Hirsch’s ruling could cause issues for the state’s 19 remaining cases related to DeSantis’ voter fraud crackdown, each of which were brought by the statewide office. “The state will continue to enforce the law.” “We continue to view the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution as the appropriate agency to prosecute these crimes.” said Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for DeSantis. The DeSantis administration intends to appeal the decision. The 20 defendants, if convicted on the felony voter fraud violations, face five years in a prison and a $5,000 fine. Election officials with the DeSantis administration processed the voter registrations, which caused confusion among the defendants who believed they were legally allowed to vote. In each case, the defendants registered to vote without issue. Yet since those arrests, new information was uncovered showing that most of the defendants were told by state officials that they could vote. The first wave of arrests, which were announced during a high profile press conference in mid-August, focused on people previously convicted of felonies who voted despite not having their voting rights restored. Wood was among 20 mostly Black defendants arrested in August as part of a voter fraud crackdown led by the Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security.
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