Arrest made in investigation into falsified voter registrations
CLERMONT, Fla. - The Lake County Supervisor of Elections, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and the State Attorney’s Office have announced an arrest in their investigation into 119 falsified voter registrations.
The Sheriff's Office on Thursday said have established probable cause for a warrant to be issued for the arrest of 63-year-old Cheryl A. Hall, of Clermont.
“You would have to ask that person,” Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays said during a news conference on Wednesday. “I wonder myself. I’ve wondered quite a bit. Why would someone do this?”
Hays said last week his office started receiving calls from voters who had gotten new voter registration cards in the mail, notifying them their part affiliation had switched from either Democrat to Republican or not affiliated to Republican.
That’s not all his office discovered, workers also found registrations with falsified birth dates, social security numbers, and signatures.
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“The integrity of our voter registration database is of paramount importance,” Hays said. “That integrity is still intact.”
Investigators said Hall received serialized voter registration cards from her employer, Winter Park-based Florida First, which is an organization involved with soliciting voter registrations.
Hays said his office began noticing unverified information on several applications that were received and then subsequently sent out notices to those voters. Investigators said it was soon discovered that the applications containing false information were directly connected to the serialized registration documents issued to Hall.
Hall turned herself into authorities on Thursday afternoon, at which time she was served with the Lake County warrant that charged her with 10 felony counts of submission of false voter registration information. She was booked in with a total bond of $20,000.