Statewide prosecutors have dropped charges against one of the 20 people accused by Gov. Ron DeSantis of voting illegally in 2020.
In a court filing Monday, prosecutors wrote that they were dropping charges against Tampa resident Tony Patterson, 44, because of “information received” from the Hillsborough County elections supervisor and because he was already being sentenced to prison in a separate case.
The decision means state officials avoid potentially having a second voter fraud case thrown out by a judge in as many months. Patterson was one of 20 people accused by DeSantis in a high-profile news conference in August of voting illegally.
As someone convicted of a felony sexual offense, Patterson was not allowed to vote under state law, but state elections officials — who report to DeSantis — cleared him to receive a voter ID card and didn’t stop him from voting in the 2020 election. Monday’s court filing did not say what information prosecutors received from local election supervisors.
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