Colorlines, News Report, Posted: Aug 22, 2012

 Florida has dominated voting rights news for its attempts to restrict registration and early voting, for its questionable voter purge, for the local elections officials who’ve opposed such measures, and for the flurry of lawsuits that have followed.

But what most of us haven’t heard about is the issue of absentee voter fraud that, while not widespread, has occurred in parts of Florida for the past 20 years. While voter fraud in general remains nearly nonexistent, two cities with high Cuban-American populations in Florida have seen incidents where absentee ballots have been illegally brokered. Florida’s changes to its electoral system, meanwhile, haven’t addressed the ballot brokering, but have created changes that make it harder for other people of color to vote.

Meet Graciela C. Catasús, a member of ColorOfChange.org, and the newest addition to our team of community journalists. Originally from Cuba, she’s worried about the way her community pays little attention to ballot brokering, while advocating for changes to existing voting laws that disenfranchise voters of color. Read more here.