Rep. Joe Garcia Says Voter Fraud Scheme 'Meant to Expand Voter Access'

Saying he knew nothing about his chief of staff’s voting scandal, Congressman Joe Garcia (D-FL) said he demanded that his chief of staff Jeffrey Garcia resign. “I cannot stress how angry I am,” Garcia said. “Yesterday I spoke with the State Attorney and staff investigators by phone. I offered my maximum cooperation in these events. We’re going to cooperate fully and I’ve asked all my staff to do the same.”

Jeffrey Garcia was allegedly involved in a scheme to manipulate the 2012 primary elections by handing in hundreds upon hundreds of fake absentee-ballot requests. Approximately 2,552 fake absentee ballot requests across Florida originated from hacker accounts, with 472 of the requests from Garcia’s district. According to the Miami Herald, “the ballot requests were clustered and targeted Democratic voters in Garcia’s congressional district and Republican voters in two Florida House of Representatives districts, indicating a concerted effort by a mystery computer hacker or hackers.”

Garcia did say that his understanding is that “no ballots were tampered with. No ballots were touched. I believe that while this was an ill-conceived effort it was meant to expand voter access.”