title: UNREAL! TWO FLORIDA Immigrant Politicians Intimidated Voters: “Candidates watched over their shoulders, telling them who to vote for.”
text: Commissioner Mack Bernard and Rep. Al Jacquet, both Democrats running in the August primary, took advantage of gaping holes in Florida s vote-by-mail laws to pressure and cajole voters in their living rooms.In one case, a blind voter said Bernard filled out and signed his ballot. His vote counted, but Post reporters looked at the signature on the ballot envelope after the fact and found it didn t match the one on file. Florida law requires that absentee voters sign their own ballot. In other cases, residents said  Voters said they received mail-in ballots but didn t know why. One woman said she felt pressured by a persistent candidate who talked his way into her home and dug out her ballot from a stack of discarded mail.You get your ballot in the mail, no questions asked, vote from the comfort of your own home and send it back to the elections office. Sound great? But how do they know that you were the one who voted? Whether their tactics were allowed under Florida law is unclear. Elections experts had never heard of candidates filling out ballots and found the practice disturbing.Bernard and Jacquet, both lawyers who have been in politics since 2009, denied wrongdoing To argue that my hard-fought victory was achieved by anything other than the sweat on my brow and the lost sole on my shoes is offensive,  Bernard said.Read more: PBP