Derek Chauvin Accused of Fraudulently Voting in Florida Despite Living in Minnesota

BY DANIEL VILLARREAL ON 6/5/20 AT 6:04 PM EDT
VOTER FRAUD

Derek Chauvin, the 44-year-old Minnesota police officer charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter for his role in the May 25 death of George Floyd, voted illegally in Florida in 2016 and 2018, according to a Florida attorney.

Florida attorney, Dan Helm, who is a candidate for Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, has requested that Orange County State Attorney Aramis Ayala prosecute Chauvin for violating the state's election laws, a third-degree felony, according to The Star Tribune.

Chauvin has property in Florida and allegedly continued to vote in state elections while living in Minnesota.

"When I learned he voted here to influence our elections, while living in Minnesota, I was outraged," Helm said.


Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin poses for a mugshot after being charged in the death of George Floyd. Bail for Chauvin, who is charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, is set at $500,000. The death sparked riots and protests in cities throughout the country after Floyd, a black man, was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.RAMSEY COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE/GETTY

Because Chauvin presumably lived, worked and paid taxes in Minnesota during the 2016 and 2018 elections, he wasn't eligible to vote in the state's last two elections.

"Investigations related to voter fraud and other election crimes are triggered by the Supervisor of Elections, not the State Attorney," a spokesperson from Ayala's office told Newsweek.

"I have been in touch with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowels who confirmed Derek Chauvin is registered to vote in Orange County and did vote in 2016 and 2018," the spokesperson continued. "Upon receipt of information from a Minnesota authority that supports a violation of Florida law we will proceed accordingly."

Chauvin is currently registered as a member of the Republican Party. The party's elected officials nationwide have backed voter ID laws and opposed expanding voting access for fear of voter fraud.

A 2012 study on voter fraud by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found the incidence of voter fraud across the U.S. to be somewhere between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent.

Chauvin became infamous for being the Minneapolis police officer shown in a viral video who kneeled on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. While Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck, Floyd repeatedly said, "I can't breathe" and called out for his mother.

On Wednesday, the autopsy report from the local medical examiner said Floyd died from "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." In other words, Floyd's heart stopped pumping blood to his brain due to the stress Chauvin put on his neck during the arrest.

https://www.newsweek.com/derek-chauv...nesota-1509109