SWFL elected official accused of ballot harvesting and intimidationA Fort Myers city councilwoman has been accused of ballot harvesting and intimidation by her opponent on the campaign trail.
Terolyn Watson is the council member for Ward 3. She is headed to a runoff election in November against Chantel Rhodes, the second top-vote getter during the August primary.
Rhodes filed a complaint with the Lee Supervisor of Elections, Florida Department of State and the Federal Election Commission.
In it, she claims Watson visited voters in their homes, helping to fill out and submit mail-in ballots. Rhodes said voters told her Watson was helping to fill out ballots and intimidating constituents.
Rhodes believes the practice has gone on for years and that voters felt intimidated to do what Watson wanted.
“I was shocked that this was still happening in this day and time by an elected official,” Rhodes said.
This practice is referred to as ballot harvesting, going door-to-door to mail-in ballots for voters before Election Day takes place.
Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law to crack down on this issue.
“Ballot harvesting has no place in the state of Florida, and we need to increase penalties for those who do it,” DeSantis said at the time.
The law ups ballot harvesting charges from a misdemeanor to a felony, punishable up tp five years in prison.
Watson has held her seat since 2015..............
https://www.winknews.com/2022/09/07/swfl-elected-official-accused-of-ballot-harvesting-and-intimidation/
