MIAMI – The candidate who lost his bid to represent Florida House District 105 is asking for a criminal investigation into what he calls irregularities in the absentee ballot returns.
Paul Crespo faxed his letter of request Friday to Miami-Dade's State Attorney, building a case that the percentage of absentee votes were "..totally out of line with early and election day voting results throughout Miami-Dade County."
"It shows something seriously out of whack when you have absentee ballots coming in two, three, four-to-one against someone, and yet the reverse is happening in early voting and on election day. It doesn't makes sense," said Crespo.
Florida District 105 includes three counties, stretching across Broward from Hallandale Beach to eastern Collier County with a dip into northwestern Miami-Dade. The small city of Sweetwater is its center. Crespo wrote, " ...absentee ballot numbers inside the Sweetwater electoral precinct spike hugely and disproportionately in favor of my opponent compared to absentee ballots in the rest of Miami-Dade County."
"I won by seven points in Collier; I virtually tied in Broward. And in Miami-Dade, the vote, the deciding vote was all in absentees," said Crespo.
Crespo said the absentee fraud-related arrests of alleged boleteras, or ballot collectors, in Hialeah fueled his efforts to expose what may be the same in Sweetwater
A spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she will soon be inviting Crespo to meet with prosecutors and police officers for an opportunity to substantiate with evidence his allegations regarding absentee voting irregularities.
