Digital Forensics Dispatch

Florida Man Charged with Changing Florida Governor’s Voting Address

November 3, 2020

Terry Spencer from the Associated Press reports that when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went to cast his ballot earlier last week he was initially refused because someone had changed his address online. When attempting to vote last Monday, October 26, he was told that the voting address had been changed from the governor’s mansion to another address in West Palm Beach, FL just over 400 miles away. The problem with the address was promptly resolved and DeSantis contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about the illegal change of address. Law enforcement was able to determine that the address was changed online from a residence in Naples, FL.

Officers went to the residence where they found 20 year-old Anthony Guevara who admitted to changing DeSantis’ address through the elections website in Leon County. “He told agents he gained access by using the governor’s birth date, which he got from Wikipedia” Spencer writes.

The Leon County Elections Supervisor has said that there are two online systems that allow for voters to change their address. One requires only the voter’s birth date and that is the one that Guevara has been accused of using. “It has safeguards to prevent hackers from executing mass changes” Spencer reports. The second system, requires additional information such as the person’s driver licenses number, issuance date, and their last four digits of their social security number to change an address.

Guevara has been charged with accessing a computer without authorization and illegally altering voting records. Both charges are third-degree felonies and are punishable with up to five years in prison.

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