The state of Florida launched a huge crackdown on illegally registered voters. After months of search, Florida authorities have to date caught ... one person. An Austrian-born Canadian citizen, Josef Sever, age 52.
Under pressure from the governor, the state’s electoral officials had initially flagged more than 180,000 names (many of them Hispanic-sounding) for checking. All but 2,600 of those initially flagged – some of whom turned out to be not only citizens, but military veterans with service in Afghanistan and Iraq – were quickly determined to be bonafide citizens and restored to the voter rolls.
After further investigation, only one name – Mr. Sever’s – was sent to law-enforcement authorities last spring. Six other “suspect” cases, in a state with more than 10 million names on the voters’ list, are still being investigated.
Sever has admitted not only to voting illegally in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, but also to having made vigorous use of America's Second Amendment rights.
When first tracked down and interviewed by Department of Homeland Security investigators last spring, Mr. Sever admitted to lying about being a U.S. citizen both to vote and – four times – to buy firearms and obtain a “concealed carry” permit which allows him to carry a hidden weapon.
We don't know who Sever voted for. He showed no party affiliation in his voting documents. But with his Austrian accent and fondness for guns, he's missing only a few documents, a bank account, and a movie career to qualify him as Gov. Scott's possible successor.
