The felony charges against a Tallahassee, Florida, resident accused of voter fraud have been cleared, officials announced this week.
Marsha Ervin, a 69-year-old Black woman, was taken into custody on the morning of Sept. 29 after authorities said she was ineligible to vote in the 2020 general and 2022 primary elections while still on probation. Released in 2018, Ervin is on probation until next month after serving time for a prior conviction, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
The Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS) gave the Department of Law Enforcement information about voter fraud allegations against her.
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Ervin got a voter registration card in 2020, which prompted her to cast her ballot both times — once in person and the other via mail, according to reports.
Ervin argued that she didn’t know that she couldn’t. According to the Democrat, citing records, Ervin said she thought she was allowed to vote based on information from television programs and due to being “told she could when she was released from prison.”
Ervin’s controversial arrest comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis created the OECS unit last year to crack down on and probe voting-related crimes. He charged 20 people previously convicted of murder or felony sexual offense after being accused of illegally voting in 2020. Advocates said that formerly incarcerated individuals are often unaware they cannot vote, especially if the government sends them materials.
For instance, Ronald Lee Miller of Miami was one of the people arrested because of DeSantis’ task force. Miller, once incarcerated for murder, told local news last year that he registered to vote after a campaigner told him he was eligible. After they sent the materials to his mailbox, he thought his “rights were restored.”
National civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents Ervin, called it an “abomination” and “voter intimidation.” He and other advocates held a news conference earlier this month demanding that her charges be dismissed.
“She was reliving a nightmare that she had lived five years ago because she voted,” attorney and local NAACP chapter president Mutaqee Akbar said at the time. On Tuesday, officials followed up.
State Attorney Jack Campbell stated, “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. This office cannot proceed with a fraud prosecution with such a lack of evidence to establish intent,” per a court document obtained by WCTV.
Two witnesses, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley and Ervin’s probation officer, helped her case. Earley deemed the situation an “innocent mistake,” and Erin’s PO provided the state forms that outline her conditions.
“One was signed on October 26, 2022, and explicitly explains that the offender could not legally vote while on probation,” Campbell continued. “The other was signed on November 28, 2018, and does not show this language. The voting incidents were between these two dates, and there is no indication that she has voted since being provided this information.”
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