Authorities Bust Two Women In Election Fraud
Miami-Dade County officials arrested a 74-year-old temporary worker for the county elections department on Friday after she was caught illegally marking ballots.
Gladys Coego was tasked with opening envelopes sent by Miami-Dade County voters with their completed mail ballots, but co-workers caught her illegally marking ballots for mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado.
Investigators have linked Coego to two fraudulent votes, but they suspect she submitted several more fraudulent votes based on witness testimony.
Congo turned herself in to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Friday morning. She was charged with two felony counts of marking another person’s ballot. She was released after posting a$10,000 bond.
In a separate case, authorities arrested another woman for election fraud on Friday. Tomika Curgil, 33, was arrested on charges of unlawfully filling out voter-registration forms on behalf of United for Care, the campaign to legalize medical marijuana in Florida.
She is accused of filling out forms for at least five people without their consent and submitting 15 forms for people who apparently don’t exist, including several forms for people who are dead.
Curgil was arrested in her Liberty City home Friday morning and charged with five felony counts of submitting false voter-registration information. Her bond is set at $125,000.
“Anyone who attempts to undermine the democratic process should recognize that there is an enforcement partnership between the elections department and our prosecution task force in place to thwart such efforts and arrest those involved. Now we need to move forward with the election.”
