Florida Arrests 20 More People for Voter Fraud, Bringing Total Past 100
Gov. DeSantis and state officials announced charges against 20 people accused of voting illegally in Florida, mostly noncitizens. The total prosecutions since 2022 now exceed 100.
Florida Voter Fraud Sweep Tops 100 Total Cases as 20 New Defendants Charged
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida state officials announced Thursday the arrests and prosecutions of 20 people accused of voting illegally, according to sun-sentinel.com, pushing the total number of cases brought since the creation of the state Office of Election Crimes and Security to more than 100.
Attorney General James Uthmeier said 12 of the 20 had been taken into custody as of the announcement, made in Lake Worth Beach. "Dozens more investigations" are underway, he added. The remaining eight face charges but had not yet been arrested.
The majority of the newly charged individuals are not U.S. citizens. An additional four defendants are people convicted of felonies who allegedly cast ballots while still serving probation. All but one of the 12 already in custody are lawful permanent residents who lack U.S. citizenship; several registered to vote years — in some cases decades — ago, allegedly affirming falsely that they were citizens.
The announcement came weeks before the general election on November 3 and nearly four years after DeSantis publicized what he called in 2022 the "opening salvo" of voter fraud prosecutions, when 20 other people were charged under similar circumstances.
Florida voters approved Amendment 4 in 2018, restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions — excluding those convicted of murder or sex-related offenses — provided they have completed all terms of their sentence, including probation, and paid all fines, fees, or restitution in full.
DeSantis also announced Thursday the creation of the Association of State and Local Election Officials, a new organization that Florida will lead and that is "dedicated to restoring trust in our electoral systems." Secretary of State Cord Byrd will head the group, which plans to establish state chapters to train local and state officials on "election integrity," with Florida positioned as the "model for the nation," Byrd said.
The Office of Election Crimes and Security received nearly 3,500 complaints of alleged election crimes in 2025 alone, of which 867 were referred to law enforcement, according to the office's annual report released in January. Since the program's creation, more than 8,700 complaints have been submitted in total. Investigations span allegations involving citizenship status, convicted felon status, voting in multiple states, casting multiple ballots, and illegal petition circulation activity.
In a state with 13.5 million registered voters, critics have characterized the overall number of prosecutions as minimal. Byrd pushed back against that view at the news conference: "It is a big deal," he said.
The office's early cases have faced significant legal resistance. Shortly after the initial 20 arrests were announced in 2022, circuit court judges began dismissing cases on the grounds that the Office of Statewide Prosecution lacked jurisdiction to bring them. The Legislature amended state law in 2023 to clarify that the office does have that authority. In South Florida, judges dismissed charges against at least four defendants from the original group.
One of those cases — against Pompano Beach resident Terry Hubbard — is now before the Florida Supreme Court, which heard oral argument earlier this year. A second dismissed case, against Miami resident Ronald Lee Miller, was reversed by the Third District Court of Appeal. Miller's defense attorney, Robert Barrar, said Thursday that his client's case has not been rescheduled for trial because all parties are waiting on the Supreme Court's decision.
"This is, for me and the other lawyers, it's incredibly frustrating," Barrar said. "It's a waste of taxpayer dollars."
The Office of Election Crimes and Security was established at DeSantis' request and was welcomed by Republicans who viewed election security as an urgent priority following Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Source: NYT US News