VOTE SIPHONING SCHEME

Ex-Florida Senator Charged for Paying Sham Candidate $45K

Former Senator Frank Artiles faces felony campaign charges for allegedly propping up a fake candidate intended to siphon votes from a Democratic incumbent.

Former Florida state Senator Frank Artiles surrendered to police Thursday, just a day after a search warrant at his house, the Miami Herald reports. Arrest documents reveal that the Republican politician paid a man nearly $45,000 to run as a sham candidate in District 37’s Senate race, in the hopes of “siphoning votes” from the Democratic incumbent. The man, Alex Rodriguez, was pinpointed for suspicious behavior during the race, registering as a Republican just days before he filed to run as an independent, and listing a false address on his sworn candidate oath. In a move likely intended to confuse voters, Rodriguez had the same surname as the incumbent, who went on to lose by just 32 votes.

In December, Artiles was allegedly seen at a bar bragging about masterminding the scheme, which may not come as a surprise—he’s been at the center of two scandals, one of which involved racist slurs, causing him to resign from the Senate in 2017.