WUSF:

Signatures of some voters in apartment buildings and high-rise towers in South Florida whose registration was changed to Republican appeared noticeably different than on paperwork those same voters signed earlier, according to a new review of voting records.

The signature comparisons, performed this week in Miami as journalists from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications investigated possible voter registration fraud, found that some past and present signatures showed obvious differences in size of letters, and strokes and flourishes of individual elements of names.

The review focused on paperwork for a small sample of a dozen voters who said in interviews that their party affiliation was changed to Republican despite never submitting the changes themselves, not approving anyone else to do so or not realizing it was done.

The differing signatures add to mounting circumstantial evidence of shady political tricks in South Florida, suggesting that unidentified canvassers during the weeks around Thanksgiving may have changed the party affiliation without permission of mostly elderly, Hispanic voters living in public housing in the area to make them Republicans.

Interviews with scores of area voters and a new analysis of voter data — also performed by UF’s journalism school — showed the suspicious activity extended to at least 20 more high-density, residential buildings over a five-mile area – beyond just the twin Haley Sofge Towers public housing complex that has been the focus of media and investigators in recent weeks.

The analysis showed that voters in nearly two dozen buildings in a six-mile radius had their party registration changed to Republican at rates more than 10 times the statewide average during the past year. Among party-switchers, only 4% of those buildings’ residents changed their party affiliation to the Democratic Party.