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Pam Bondi blasts FDLE for not investigating claims of voter fraud

Pam Bondi (large)
Posted at 3:45 PM, Nov 12, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-12 10:46:56-05

(WTXL) - Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is calling on FDLE to investigate the conduct of election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties during the 2018 election.

In a letter sent to FLDE Commissioner Rick Swearingen on Sunday, Bondi wrote that she was "deeply troubled" that the FDLE has chosen not to investigate following Florida Governor Rick Scott's request for the agency to look into "rampant fraud" in the ballot counting process. 

"... Election officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties have been found by courts and have admitted in their own public statements, that irregularities occurred and required procedures were violated. Election officials, campaigns, media, observers, and others have documented multiple instances of additional irregularities," Bondi wrote in the letter to Swearingen. "It is incumbent upon you... to investigate whether these documented irregularities constitute incompetence or intentional malfeasance and outright fraud."

She then directed the FDLE to take the steps to "guarantee integrity in [Florida's] election process." The FDLE is an independent law enforcement agency, so they are not required to follow her directives.

Bondi, a Republican, also sent a letter to Ken Detzner, Florida's Secretary of State on Sunday. In it, she formally requests that Detzner report all election irregularities in Broward and Palm Beach counties to the Office of Statewide Prosecution, which reports to her. 

Bondi's letters come the same day Gov. Scott filed additional complaints against Broward and Palm Beach election supervisors. You can read those complaints here.

The FDLE told AP it hasn't launched an investigation of voter fraud.