Florida drops voter fraud charges against 69-year-old woman

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray News) - Less than three weeks after shackling and arresting a 69-year-old Florida woman in the middle of the night at her home, the state announced Tuesday it is dropping all charges against her.

“This office has no interest at all in prosecuting people who are innocent,” State Attorney Jack Campbell told WCTV in an interview Tuesday.

Marsha Ervin was arrested in late September and charged with felony voter fraud. At the time, the Tallahassee woman told investigators she believed she was allowed to vote. But Ervin was on probation after incarceration, and her voting rights were not yet restored.

Her arrest drew criticism quickly.

Last week, the NAACP and civil rights attorney Ben Crump voiced outrage over the manner of Ervin’s arrest and the charges against her. Ervin had a voter registration card and had reason to believe she was allowed to vote, they argued.

The advocates accused the state of voter intimidation and discrimination and called for all charges to be dropped.

Seven days later, that demand was granted.

“This office cannot proceed with a fraud prosecution with such a lack of evidence to establish intent,” Campbell said in a statement.

After Ervin’s arrest, investigators found “subsequent information” that “compromised the state’s ability to proceed further,” Campbell said in the statement. Ultimately, prosecutors were unable to establish intent by Ervin to defraud the state and instead found evidence to support Ervin’s assertions that she believed she was allowed to vote.

“The evidence is there is no witness who can testify to the defendant being told that she was ineligible to vote and some evidence to corroborate her assertions that she believed she could lawfully vote,” the statement said.

Campbell said in a news release Tuesday that speaking with two people led to the decision to drop the charges: Ervin’s probation officer and the Leon County supervisor of elections.

Ervin’s probation officer supplied documents to the state supporting Ervin’s statements that she believed she was legally permitted to vote at the time she cast her ballots, according to Campbell.

Paperwork outlining the terms of Ervin’s probation did not mention she could not vote when she signed it in 2018, according to the news release. It wasn’t until Ervin signed probation terms last October that the forms mentioned she was not allowed to vote, according to Campbell.

“The voting incidents were between these two dates and there is no indication that she has voted since being provided this information,” the release said.

The state attorney said that timeline matters.

“There was a change of circumstances,” Campbell told WCTV Tuesday. “I don’t want people to be scared to vote. People need to be able to vote.”

Additionally, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley told the state attorney he thought it was all “an innocent mistake.” After the news conference in Ervin’s defense last week, Earley echoed that sentiment to WCTV, saying he felt compassion for Ervin and thinks “these are honest mistakes ... I don’t think there was any intent to defraud.”

Ervin was sent a form to register to vote that looked like it came from the Supervisor of Election’s Office, but it was from an advocacy group, according to Campbell’s statement.

In spite of all the controversy, one idea seems to resonate: Campbell, Earley, Crump and Ervin all said registering to vote can be confusing for felons.

“We want everybody who is authorized to vote to go to the ballot,” Campbell said.

The NAACP, Crump and defense attorney Mutaqee Akbar are calling for reform to the registration process for offenders to help avoid confusion and charges like those Ervin faced. They said the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections should establish a new checkbox for felons seeking voter registration to further verify eligibility.

The advocates also argue it would shift the responsibility of confirming voter status back onto the state.

“Why are we putting the onus on the citizens?” Crump asked last week.

The future of that proposal is uncertain. Earley told WCTV last week that he liked the idea, but reformers will face obstacles enacting the change.

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