DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona Beach City Commissioner Derrick Henry and his campaign manager were arrested Wednesday, charged with committing absentee ballot fraud during Henrys
2010 re-election campaign.
The arrest of Henry and Genesis Robinson comes a little more than two months after Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall requested an investigation into
irregularities in absentee ballot requests coming into her office.
McFall brought her concerns to the Volusia County Sheriffs Office in August, prompting the Sheriffs Office and the State Attorneys Office to
immediately launch a joint investigation that ultimately led to the
filing of a dozen felony charges against both defendants.
The investigation revealed that Henry and Robinson devised a strategy to boost Henrys re-election bid by obtaining absentee ballots for numerous
people, most of whom never requested the ballots. By law, residents are
only allowed to request absentee ballots for themselves, immediate
family members or for someone for whom they’re acting as legal guardian.
McFall filed the complaint on August 11 after her office received a large number of requests for absentee ballots that were all initiated from the
same e-mail address. Based on the e-mail address, it appeared that the
requests came from someone with an interest in the Daytona Beach City
Commission Zone 5 race. Henry, the Zone 5 incumbent who was locked in a
three-way primary, was re-elected on August 24.
The subsequent investigation revealed that between the two of them, Henry and Robinson had requested a total of 92 absentee ballots through the elections
offices web site. Four of the absentee ballots were found at Henrys
house when investigators searched it on Sept. 23. Investigators also
recovered absentee ballot applications and receipts for some of the
absentee ballots along with handbooks outlining Florida election laws.
The four absentee ballots were found under a computer keyboard.
Investigators from both the Sheriffs Office and the State Attorneys Office interviewed many of the 92 people for whom absentee ballots were
requested. And what they heard was a variety of stories. For instance,
one resident said she received an absentee ballot in the mail even
though she hadn’t requested one. A few days later, she said one of
Henrys campaign workers showed up at her house and asked if she had
received her ballot and had filled it out. The resident said she got the
ballot while the campaign worker waited. Then she filled it out, sealed
and signed the ballot and turned it over to the campaign worker.
In another case, a resident said that Henry offered to get him an absentee ballot and the resident agreed. But when the ballot arrived at the mans
house, it came with a second ballot for a former resident who had moved
away in 2007.
In yet another instance, two requests that were made in the name of a resident were subsequently rejected by the elections office because the resident’s voter status had been classified
as inactive. So investigators sought out the man to see if he knew why
the absentee ballot requests had been made on his behalf. But after
investigating, officials discovered that the man didn’t request the
ballots and hasn’t lived or voted in Florida in more than two decades.
Henry also had requested an absentee ballot for his niece, listing her address as a home registered to Henry that was located within Zone 5.
But investigators discovered that even though the niece used the
absentee ballot to vote in the Zone 5 race, she actually lives at a
different location in the city, outside of Zone 5. Investigators also
spoke to several others who confirmed that they hadn’t asked for an
absentee ballot and had no idea that the Henry campaign had requested a
ballot for them.
During an interview with investigators, Robinson acknowledged coming up with the strategy of applying on-line for absentee ballots, saying that Henry had approved the idea back in April
when Robinson presented it to him. Robinson said it was done in an
effort to increase voter turnout and improve Henrys chances of
re-election. Henry was re-elected in the municipal election with 65
percent of the vote, beating his nearest competitor by nearly 600 votes.
Henry, 41, is charged with two counts of absentee ballots and voting violations, nine counts of being a principal to absentee ballots and
voting violations and one count of conspiracy to commit absentee ballots
and voting violations. Robinson, 21, is facing 11 counts of being a
principal to absentee ballots and voting violations and one count of
conspiracy to commit absentee ballots and voting violations. All of the
charges are 3rd degree felonies.
Late Wednesday morning, both men surrendered to investigators with the Sheriffs Office and the State Attorneys Office and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in
Daytona Beach on $6,000 bond each.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/volusia_news/102710-daytona-co…
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I’m a Conservative Believer and agree with you on all you say, but take it all a step farther in terms of winning, which we could discuss if you wished. I’m at RobertFounder@Gmail.Com