The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from Terry Hubbard, one of 20 individuals accused by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 of illegally registering and voting despite being ineligible due to felony convictions.
The court’s decision, announced Monday, comes after the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled in July that the charges against Hubbard should proceed, reversing an earlier dismissal by a Broward County circuit judge. The case has sparked a legal debate over the jurisdiction of the state’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.
The charges stem from a high-profile announcement by DeSantis in August 2022, during which he and other state officials alleged widespread voter fraud by convicted felons. The announcement came months before the general election that secured DeSantis a second term and was part of broader efforts to address alleged voter fraud.
Jurisdiction debate
At the heart of the case is whether the statewide prosecutor had the authority to charge Hubbard. The Broward County circuit judge initially dismissed the case, arguing that the alleged wrongdoing occurred solely within one judicial circuit. The statewide prosecutor is authorized to handle cases spanning multiple circuits.
However, the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned the dismissal, citing that Hubbard’s actions involved both Broward County in the 17th Judicial Circuit and Leon County in the 2nd Judicial Circuit.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office argued that the alleged voting crimes crossed circuit lines because Hubbard completed voter registration forms in Broward County, which were then processed by the Florida Department of State in Leon County.
“By registering to vote, he triggered governmental action in the Seventeenth and Second Judicial Circuits,” Moody’s office wrote in a brief. “The Fourth District correctly found that Hubbard’s actions ‘occurred in both Broward and Leon County,’ implicating two judicial circuits. No more is required.”
Defense challenges
Hubbard’s attorneys dispute the state’s jurisdictional argument, contending that the Supreme Court’s review is essential to clarify the authority of the statewide prosecutor.
“Voting issues have been thrust into the public and political dialog over recent years,” Hubbard’s attorneys wrote in a Nov. 4 brief. “Resolution from this court is necessary to clarify specifically the extent to which the Office of the Statewide Prosecution has authority and discretion to usurp the authority of the locally elected state attorney and to prosecute these cases.”
The attorneys also emphasized the broader implications of the case, noting that similar legal challenges are pending across Florida.
The 4th District Court of Appeal’s decision also cited a 2023 state law expanding the statewide prosecutor’s jurisdiction in such cases, which the court said could be applied retroactively to Hubbard’s case.
Hubbard’s charges have drawn attention to Florida’s 2018 constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to most felons who have completed their sentences, excluding those convicted of murder or sex offenses. Hubbard, convicted in 1989 of a sex offense, remains ineligible under that amendment.
The Supreme Court has not yet set a date for oral arguments.
