Trafficking in deception and preying on poorly informed voters is out of control in Broward County, and it succeeds only when some voters pay too little attention.
Tuesday is Primary Election Day. Republicans and Democrats will nominate candidates for U.S. Senate, governor, Cabinet, Congress, Legislature and county offices. All voters, regardless of party, will choose candidates for nonpartisan school board seats and judgeships. Much is at stake, and some people will do anything to win — including lying to voters at the polls.
This is why voters must vote with care. It’s also why the Editorial Board strongly favors voting by mail — so that voters can take all the time they need before marking their ballots by filling in the little oval bubbles next to candidates’ names.
If you see a “Broward County Voter Guide” with pictures of Democratic candidates and the oval bubbles filled in, it’s phony. It’s a trick aimed at you, the voter, to make it look as if some candidates are endorsed by the Democratic Party, which is not true.
Who would benefit?
As we have reported, the phony voter guide appears designed chiefly to help two local candidates: Dale Holness, running for Congress in District 20, and Tamar Hamilton, one of three candidates for circuit judge in Group 52.
The guide carried a disclaimer by Our Blue Democracy, a political committee tied to Tamarac City Commissioner Marlon Bolton. Similar text messages went to many voters, compounding the confusion.
The Broward Democratic Party issued a cease-and-desist letter and demanded that the deception stop immediately.
“The latest text-message campaign identifies ‘Our Blue Democracy’ as the responsible entity, and explicitly uses the word ‘Democrat’ in a manner that we believe is deliberately designed to mislead voters,” the party’s letter said. “No authorization has been provided by the Broward Democratic Party.”
Party Chairman Rick Hoye also sent a text blast to members that said: “Know the source. Trust only the official guide. Please do not be deceived.”
Deceive on Election Eve
On the last day of early voting Sunday, at Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs, we were sent images of a campaign worker handing out the same phony guide in open defiance of the Democratic Party’s warnings. Nearly 5,000 people have voted early at that library, the second-busiest early voting location in Broward in this election.
The guide also was passed out at the African-American Research Library in Fort Lauderdale, a popular early voting site among Black voters.
Democratic Party leaders should insist that Bolton, as a member in good standing and a Tamarac precinct committeeman, appear before party leaders and explain his PAC’s actions.
A strong letter is a start, but the party needs to be more forceful in its public condemnation of the misuse of its name. If Holness or Hamilton win Tuesday, the fake voter guide will definitely have been a factor — and by then, it will be too late to do anything about it.
The real slate of endorsed candidates by Hispanic Vote in Broward County.
Here’s a second very suspicious case. An influential and nonpartisan Broward group, Hispanic Vote, took sides in a number of races and put its endorsements online.
Hispanic Vote endorsed David Andrew Fry for circuit judge in Group 52. But his opponent, Tamar Hamilton, claimed on her Facebook page that she has the endorsement of “Hispanos Vote,” with the identical red check-mark logo used by the real Hispanic Vote.
A closer look shows that Hamilton’s faux endorsement used the web address of Hispanic Vote Palm Beach (hispanicvotepbc.com), which does not make endorsements in Broward races. On that web page, Hamilton’s name appears nowhere.
Judges, and judicial candidates, should be of the highest personal and professional integrity.
It’s why the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board recommended David Andrew Fry — not Hamilton — for circuit judge.
Broward desperately needs a renewed commitment to an honest, credible political system. That starts with real leadership from county elected officials who will condemn this behavior.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.