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Florida officials announced last week the arrest of three paid canvassers charged with allegedly falsifying signatures on petitions to include marijuana and gambling legalization initiatives on the state’s 2024 ballot.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said that three canvassers are being prosecuted on fraud charges involving the petitioning.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said, "To fraudulently misappropriate (the) process for personal gain is not only illegal but also violates the trust of law-abiding Floridians across the state.”
Miami resident Zachary Paul Dworsky, 34, was arrested on Dec. 13 and charged with 15 felony counts each for criminal use of personal identification information and signing another person’s name or a fictitious name to a petition. Dworsky's focus was primarily on a marijuana ballot effort.
Orlando’s Natalie Marie Marrero, 33, was arrested last month on 16 felony counts each for fraudulent use of personal identification information and false swearing of voter registration information for the marijuana petition specifically.
Clewiston resident David Lennard Simmons, 49, was arrested the same day. He was charged with 17 felony counts for fraudulent use of personal identification information of a deceased individual.
Simmons was collecting signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment for card rooms in the state to offer blackjack and other Vegas-like casino offerings. That ballot initiative has since been withdrawn.
The group that sponsored that amendment, Florida Voters in Charge, is now pushing another that would allow three new casinos, but it currently has no valid signatures. A 2018 initiative that passed requires voters to decide the fate of any new casinos in the state.
The arrests occurred following multiple statewide investigations led by FDLE’s Election Crime Unit, which worked with the Florida Department of State's Office of Election Crimes and Security and local elections supervisors, according to the release.
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
