Trump may have voted illegally when he cast early primary ballot in Palm Beach

By Noreen Marcus, FloridaBulldog.org

Convicted felon Donald J. Trump apparently did not have the necessary grant of clemency to vote in Florida’s Republican primary, public records indicate – but he voted anyway. 

On Wednesday the ex-president and current Republican nominee to reclaim the White House traveled from his Mar-a-Lago resort home to a nearby Palm Beach County polling place to cast a ballot that included two U.S. House contenders, one Florida House hopeful, two school board members, the state attorney, the public defender, a county court judge, the sheriff and a ballot question about extending tax abatements.

Only Trump knows who he voted for, and only he knows how he was able to vote in Palm Beach County.

Trump was photographed at the early voting site just like any other celebrity exercising a fundamental civil right. On hand to greet him was a smiling Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link. But it appears that neither Link nor anyone else made any inquiry about his entitlement to vote or to prevent him from doing so.

Sartory Link did not respond to Florida Bulldog’s requests for comment.

So what’s the problem?

On May 30 a New York state court jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in order to cover up hush money payments to a porn star and corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Trump is to be sentenced next month.

PADOVANO: TRUMP NOT ENTITLED TO VOTE

In Florida convicted felons may not vote until their sentences have been served and they have paid all outstanding fines and restitution.

“There’s absolutely nothing in the Constitution or in state law that would enable him to vote,” said Philip Padovano, an appellate lawyer and former judge on the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. “He’s a convicted felon and the Constitution says in plain English that unless you’ve completed your sentence, you’re not entitled to vote.

“I just think we should treat him like everybody else,” Padovano said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to disagree. In June, when the media started questioning whether Trump could vote in his home state, the Republican governor came out swinging on behalf of his party’s leader. 

“Former President Donald Trump hasn’t lost his voting rights in Florida. Rights are not removed in Florida where they haven’t yet been stripped in the convicting jurisdiction,” DeSantis tweeted at the time. “That said, given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to qualify for restoration of rights per the Florida Clemency Board, which I chair.”

DeSantis promised that if there were a problem, he’d make sure the board acts in time to allow Trump to vote for himself in November. He didn’t elaborate on what that  problem might be.

NO PUBLIC RECORD SHOWING TRUMP GIVEN CLEMENCY

The state board that restores returning citizens’ rights is composed of the governor and the three Cabinet members, all of whom are Republicans.

“This disgrace isn’t justice. It’s election interference,” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson tweeted following the conviction, according to the Miami Herald.

Another Cabinet member, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, tweeted, “Trump should be granted clemency immediately. This is outrageous.”

But there’s no public record showing state officials have granted Trump clemency. Chris Taylor, spokesperson for the Florida Commission on Offender Review, did not return a phone message from Florida Bulldog seeking comment.

Padovano said he finds “very unfair” how differently from Trump the former offenders as a group are treated in Florida. In 2018 voters passed an amendment to the Florida Constitution that was supposed to restore voting rights to convicted felons after they complete their sentences.

LEGISLATURE MADE VOTING TOUGH FOR FELONS

The Legislature passed so-called enabling legislation that added the requirement former offenders must pay all outstanding fines and restitution before they are allowed to vote. Yet there was no central database showing who had paid what and the resulting confusion disenfranchised a great number of returning citizens, their advocates said.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition sued the state in federal court and ultimately lost the case in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

“I think it’s fairly obvious the Legislature passed the law to make it more difficult for convicted felons to vote,” Padovano said. “Trump is a convicted felon. Why is it easier for him?”

One theory supporting Trump’s right to vote in Florida and popularized by some of the media is that the state Constitution applies to Floridians the laws of the state where they were convicted; since New York would allow someone in Trump’s position to vote, he’s good to go here.

“I think that’s wrong,” Padovano said. “I’m at a loss to understand where they are getting this concept of going by the laws of another state.

“And I wonder if anyone would have come up with that for John Doe, voter.”