Democratic North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo was arrested and charged with three felony counts of voter fraud, according to reports.
DeFilipo was voting in a North Miami Beach district even though he no longer lived in the area, said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
We in law enforcement take actions which violate our election laws very seriously. They are crimes. Today, we are charging Anthony DeFillipo, the present Mayor @NorthMiamiBeach, with 3 counts of Unqualified Voters Willfully Voting, 3rd degree felonies. pic.twitter.com/pUICntyegS
— Kathy Rundle (@KathyFndzRundle) May 31, 2023
“We believe the evidence shows DeFillipo voted illegally three times,” Rundle added. “Deliberately swearing to false information as alleged in this case eats at the credibility of our voting and electoral systems.”
The mayor’s attorney, Michael Pizzi, called the arrest politically motivated by his opponents, adding that DeFilipo always “intended to and always lived in North Miami Beach.”
“As a result of that his political opponents, their campaign workers filed a complaint with the ethics commission saying the mayor was not living in North Miami Beach,” Pizzi added.
In his defense, DeFilipo said that he was not aware of the rules of voting outside your registered district.
“I totally forgot, it was an oversight and I had it fixed immediately when I noticed,” he told NBC. “We’re human, we make mistakes.”
North Miami Beach spokesperson David F. Jeannot has since released a statement saying that the city will continue to operate as authorities continue their investigation.
“Following the news conference by State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the City of North Miami Beach will watch closely as the legal process runs its course,” Jeannot wrote. “To rebuild trust in this community is no small feat however, we are focused on earning your confidence back.
“NMB is a resilient community, and together we will emerge stronger from this,” he continued. “We thank you for your continued support as we work towards a more transparent and accountable city government.”
Voter fraud by Democrats has been rampant across Florida, which is why state Gov. Ron DeSantis created the Office of Election Crimes and Security in April of last year to crack down on voter fraud and other election-related crimes.
“Some of them may not care as much about the election stuff. I think it’s been mixed at how those reactions are going to be. So we just want to make sure whatever laws are on the books, that those laws are enforced,” DeSantis said of increasing the penalty for ballot harvesting from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
