Officials: Florida man changed Gov. DeSantis’s address, delaying him from voting

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was nearly prevented from casting his ballot this week after a man allegedly changed his home address online.

The governor attempted to cast his ballot on Monday, The Associated Press reports, but was informed at the polling place that his address had been changed to a small apartment more than 400 miles away.

Officials say after DeSantis contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, it was discovered that 20-year-old Anthony Guevara of Naples had changed the governor’s address, apparently using his birthdate found on his Wikipedia page.

The system used on the election website requires more private information than a birthdate, the AP notes, such as a driver’s license number, the date it was issued and the last four digits of a Social Security number. According to the AP, court records do not indicate if Guevara had this information when changing the governor’s address.

Guevara has been charged with two third-degree felonies: accessing a computer without authorization and illegally altering voting records. He faces up to five years in prison and is currently in custody while he awaits a court hearing.

Guevara allegedly also told authorities that he had accessed voter information of Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and LeBron James and Michael Jordan, though he claimed he had not made any changes to their records.

This incident has called into question the security of the website and Florida’s voting infrastructure. Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee reassured voters that election computer systems are safe and voters should have “confidence in the integrity.”

In the statement, Lee said, “This incident was perpetrated using publicly accessible voter data, and there is no evidence to suggest that this change was made through the Florida Department of State.”