A Florida man who tried to get access to a mail-in ballot for his dead wife in order to “test the system” has been charged with voter fraud, authorities said.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrested 62-year-old Larry Wiggins at his home on Oct. 1 after he filed two ballot requests and forged his deceased wife’s signature.
Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett said he notified the sheriff’s office when voter information confirmed that Wiggins’ wife had been dead for two years, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. Bennett said his staff became suspicious during a routine mail-in ballot check.
Press release and details are now out and available. The suspect’s name is Larry Wiggins, 62, a black male who, according to my most-recent voter file, is a registered Democrat. The decedent was his wife. To those who theorized the fraudster was a white Trump backer, he isnt pic.twitter.com/QcDGw0zdhw
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) October 2, 2020
“As soon as they pulled up the file it showed that she is dead,” Bennett told the Herald-Tribune. “He wanted to test the system. He did test the system, and guess what? It worked.”
Bennett said that voter fraud is rare and he will prosecute to the full extent of the law, the Herald-Tribune added. (RELATED: Hennepin County Attorney’s Office Said No Reports Of Voter Fraud, Despite Project Veritas Claims)
“The amount of fraud committed in Florida in elections is very small,” Bennett said. “People complain that vote by mail is crooked; it’s not, we catch them, we verify it and any supervisor of elections in the state of Florida I know is just as conscious about it as I am.”
Wiggins admitted to authorities he mailed the ballot request, and he has been charged with requesting a vote by mail ballot on behalf of another elector, which is a third-degree felony, according to the Manatee County Sheriff press release.
There are 270,862 registered voters in Manatee County: 117,216 Republicans, 83,064 Democrats and 70,582 with no party affiliation.