A former top election watchdog in Florida who was fired for citing misconduct among Orange County officials is coming forward with more to say about the alleged mishandling of ballots in the battleground state.
Brian Freid, a whistleblower and former information systems director for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, submitted an affidavit with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement alleging he witnessed a “gross lack of governance, oversight, rules, ethical standards, and regulations” in the handling of ballots during the 2020 presidential election.
In his testimony Freid, a lifelong registered Democrat, cites OCSOE ignoring evidence felons had voted, ballots being sent to deceased residents despite notification to OCSOE by family members, and bare minimum efforts to verify registered voters were being truthful in their applications.
Freid goes on to state that his former office twice failed to follow up on computer breaches of sensitive voter data as mandated by state law. The digital hijackings came years after overseas hackers were implicated in attacking voter databases in Illinois and Arizona.
Florida election law mandates that a voter be removed from the rolls after missing two consecutive presidential elections. Freid, who spoke with Just the News, claims he saw ballots being mailed to residents who hadn’t voted in up to 20 years:
“So somebody is voting on their behalf,” Freid told Just the News, noting that a voter must request a mail-in ballot to receive it.
Freid notes in his affidavit that the vote-by-mail ballot request form doesn’t require the applicant to list their contact information, so there is no follow-up to check that the person requested a ballot.
“It’s very easy to commit fraud by requesting a vote-by-mail ballot,” Freid told Just the News.
Ballot harvesting, the process of collecting absentee ballots on behalf of other voters and submitting them, is big business in Florida. In October, the Department of State launched a criminal probe after Democrat candidate for Orange County Commissioner Cynthia Harris showed likely evidence that ballot harvesters are being paid $10 per ballot they collect from another voter. Such an action is a third degree felony under state law punishable by up to five years in prison.