More Fraud in FL – Dem. Joe Garcia’s Chief of Staff Resigns After Admitting to Absentee Ballot Scheme

This has to be an imaginary story, right? Most Democrats and others on the left continue to insist that voter fraud is not a problem, even in the face of examples like Minnesota U.S. Senator Al Franken, whose 312-vote “victory” margin in 2008 may have entirely consisted (and then some) of illegal votes by felons in just one county.
More recently, it seems that the claim is under revision. A Democratic Party county chair, in a Cincinnati Enquirer story about three out-of-staters who voted or attempted to vote in Ohio,  is reported to have “long said there is no evidence of systemic fraud.” Well, though they were were prevented from casting illegal ballots, a Florida Democratic congressman’s chief of staff and his alleged cohorts definitely attempted large-scale “systemic” fraud last year. The Miami Herald, which played an important investigative role, had the story on Friday. A Google News search on relevant terms indicates that it’s getting very little notice (15 items in total, most in Florida). Excerpts from Patrick Mazzei’s Herald story follow the jump (bolds are mine):

Congressman Joe Garcia’s chief of staff implicated in phantom absentee-ballot requests scheme
Congressman Joe Garcia’s chief of staff abruptly resigned Friday after being implicated in a sophisticated scheme to manipulate last year’s primary elections by submitting hundreds of fraudulent absentee-ballot requests.
Friday afternoon, Garcia said he had asked Jeffrey Garcia, no relation, for his resignation after the chief of staff — also the congressman’s top political strategist — took responsibility for the plot. Hours earlier, law enforcement investigators raided the homes of another of Joe Garcia’s employees and a former campaign aide in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.
… Jeffrey Garcia, 40, declined to comment. He also worked last year on the campaign of Democrat Patrick Murphy of Jupiter, who unseated tea-party Republican congressman Allen West. Murphy has not been implicated in the phantom-requests operation. (Allen West, who “lost” by a very thin margin, call your office — Ed.)

Read more: newsbusters.org