Pinellas supervisor race latest in Florida to feature elections denier

The allegations were outlandish, but they still shocked Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus when they appeared on a blog in 2022.

Clearwater resident Chris Gleason claimed that Pinellas County was “ground zero” for mail ballot fraud that stole the 2020 election from former President Donald Trump, even though Trump won Florida. To his followers online and at local political clubs, Gleason spread allegations that Marcus erased votes and attempted to hide the evidence which Marcus said is “categorically false.”

After nearly two years of attacking the county’s handling of ballots and voting machines, Gleason qualified to challenge Marcus, a fellow Republican and 22-year elections professional, in the Aug. 20 primary. He’s one of at least nine candidates running to control county elections offices across Florida with platforms casting doubt about the integrity of those operations.

County supervisors enforce regulations that safeguard elections through testing of voting machines, auditing of results and verification of mail ballots. But the drumbeat of U.S. election fraud claims spawning from the 2020 presidential election are being injected into races to control these agencies that count votes.

“We all believe in this very sacred thing called our Constitutional Republic,” Marcus said of her office. “Anytime a person sows seeds of doubt, it is putting at risk public trust in a process that is essential to what we are.”

At a press conference announcing his candidacy last month, Gleason said he is running to support people “who believe that there should be no cheating in elections.”

Candidates backing debunked claims of fraud in the 2020 election have run for county elections offices or been appointed to boards that control elections administration across the U.S.

The trend is particularly disturbing in Florida because, over the past 20 years, the state has become a model for professional and efficient elections, according to David Becker, founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research.

Florida adopted paper ballots before other states, which has enabled audits for accuracy. Prior to 2021, when a Republican-backed law required citizens to request vote-by-mail ballots more frequently, an expansion of the practice helped eliminate election day lines and boost voter access.

“Florida went from being a laughing stock in the election of Bush v. Gore to becoming a model in many ways in 2020 and that was largely due to the professionalism of 67 supervisors of elections throughout the state, Republicans and Democrats,” Becker said.

During an April 24 news conference of the Pinellas Watchdogs club in Clearwater, several candidates running for supervisor of elections across Florida raised questions about a lack of transparency, handling of voter rolls and allegations of fraud against Republican and Democratic incumbents. Attendees held signs with messages such as “one person one vote” and “legal votes matter.”

“We have selections not elections, and I hope everybody here who’s going to be running as a candidate is going to help us change that,” Gleason said at the event.

County supervisors ensure the accuracy of voter records, train poll workers, process mail ballots, decide where early voting locations are placed and handle confidential voter data. Frivolous challenges can delay election certifications, which has occurred in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada since 2020.

“If you get individuals in a particular county who really believe these lies, you could see them undermining the quality of election administration that really had improved so greatly in Florida,” Becker said.

Claims of fraud

Gleason, 52, who said he is a data analyst, has spread theories related to U.S. election fraud on a network of right-wing podcasts, websites and his personal blog since at least late 2022.

All of his income last year came from political activity, according to his financial disclosure form. Gleason was paid $41,999 by Wisconsin-based Election Watch, a group led by Peter Bernegger, a felon convicted in 2009 of bank and mail fraud for deceiving investors of his start-up companies. Bernegger has filed a barrage of lawsuits in Wisconsin claiming election misconduct and in February was charged with a felony for allegedly modifying a subpoena in one case, according to court records. And Gleason got $5,000 from a nonprofit funded by Dick Uihlein, a far-right megadonor who has given tens of millions of dollars to election denial causes.

A bank foreclosed on Gleason’s home on Clearwater Beach in October, which he has appealed, according to court records. The bank bought the house in February, but Gleason still lists the address as his residence. In the past decade he’s faced a $28,596 federal tax lien and a $9,505 state tax lien, which he has since satisfied, records show. He declined requests sent via email and phone for comment on his finances or work for Election Watch.

The Pinellas supervisor of elections oversees a nearly $13 million budget and is paid $194,037 annually.

In one of his central claims, Gleason alleges Florida and local officials’ “treasonous activities” are part of a statewide conspiracy to disenfranchise voters. He alleged hundreds of thousands of ballots in Florida in 2020 were erased, but his claim is rooted in a mischaracterization of what is reported as a “blank ballot.”

When voters fail to fill any ovals on a single sheet within a multi-sheet ballot, that one page is labeled in the tabulation machine as a “blank ballot,” according to Katina Granger, a spokesperson for the manufacturer Election Systems & Software.

As counties reported the number of single sheets within multi-sheet ballots left blank in an election on data reports, they’ve had to use a misnomer with the term “blank ballot,” according to Ron Turner, past president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections Association.

Gleason represents this to mean entire ballots that are “100% blank” and alleges that Marcus and state officials erased votes and then reported that voters left ovals empty.

“Who in their right mind would take time out of their busy everyday life to cast a “100% BLANK BALLOT”?,” Gleason wrote in a June blog post.

Four county supervisors of elections interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times confirmed these are not 100% blank ballots, but individual blank sheets.

Marcus said the system of audits as well as laws that require ballots to be retained for two years for inspection provide tangible evidence that elections are accurate.

“I don’t just think or believe the results of our election, I have evidence to prove that the election was conducted fairly and accurately,” Marcus said.

In April of last year, Gleason sued Marcus and her office, alleging she withheld election data records and “attempted to cover up the evidence of their numerous crimes and frauds” by charging $10,682 to review and redact 4,571 pages prior to releasing them.

Marcus responded in an affidavit that the volumes contain data that by law must be reviewed for redaction of any precinct subtotals with less than 30 votes that could identify individual voters. A judge ruled Marcus followed the law and dismissed the case.

Pinellas GOP chair Adam Ross said rules prohibit the group from making an endorsement in a Republican primary even though the Aug. 20 race will be open to all county voters regardless of party because no Democrat qualified to run. But he said he does “not believe there is a conspiracy for voter fraud that Julie Marcus is a part of or running.”

Marcus has received the endorsements of dozens of local, state and congressional Republicans, including Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Anna Paulina Luna, as well as Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

She has raised $139,827 through her campaign account and political committee, according to financial records available through June 28. Gleason has raised $29,089, records show.

“Julie Marcus has always been very involved in the county and the state in making sure we have free and fair elections in Florida,” Ross said. “I really think whatever your party affiliation is in Pinellas County, or the state of Florida, you can have full faith and security knowing your ballot is being counted accurately.”

‘Vigilant in this’

Marcus, 48, began in the Supervisor of Elections office 22 years ago heading the voter outreach department. She became deputy supervisor before being appointed four years ago to serve the remaining term of longtime supervisor Deborah Clark. She won an election against a Democratic opponent that fall.

In her time as supervisor, Marcus said she has expanded cybersecurity to protect critical infrastructure and overseen the adoption of an independent electronic audit system that confirms the accuracy of the tabulation machines.

Marcus said in the last six elections, the audit system reviewed 15 million ovals and read them differently than the tabulators about .00003% of the time. In those cases, it was because voters had mismarked their ballot. In four machine and three manual recounts since 2020, there have been no vote changes, she said.

“I am vigilant in this,” Marcus said. “Everything that concerns this process is to ensure every voice is heard, that we foster trust and confidence and that we are ensuring that we have a process that is transparent.”