Misleading card boosts right-wing candidate
Lists Laura Loomer among candidates for Democratic voters
Someone is trying to trick Democrats into casting a vote they certainly would regret: for far right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.
A blue card passed out to voters in Palm Beach County lists which Democrats to vote for, but it includes the Republican Loomer instead of her Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel.
Every other candidate on the card is a Democrat. Loomer? Most definitely not.
No one is admitting to the trickery. Not the Republican Party and not Loomer, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The card has been distributed to voters at early voting sites in Lantana and Greenacres, according to the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.
The party posted a picture of the card on Facebook to warn people it’s a fake — identical to the Democrats’ own card except for Loomer’s name.
“PSA: BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR FAKE DEM VOTER GUIDES!” the Palm Beach County Democratic Party posted. “Ours are professionally printed, doublesided, unlike this hatchet job. We endorse & support Lois Frankel, NOT Laura Loomer.”
Loomer has made her name through incendiary comments, touting herself as the “mostbanned woman” on social media. She has accused Parkland students
of being puppets and calls herself a “proud Islamophobe.”
Florida’s 21st congressional district is considered a Democratic stronghold. According to an Oct. 5 poll from Florida Politics, Frankel, who ran unopposed in 2018, held a 61%-31% advantage over Loomer in the race.
“It’s just a dirty trick,” said Mike Coleman, vice chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.
“Lois Frankel is in a fairly safe district, but Laura Loomer wants to win at any kind of cost. [Loomer] may not have authorized it; she may not have done anything, but the fact is she was the beneficiary of it.”
The Palm Beach County Republican Party denied any involvement, with Chairman Michael Barnett saying: “These are not our guides. The Palm Beach GOP has its own voter guides. I don’t know where they are coming from.”
Former Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Marc Allen-Siegel said the fake voter guides were a telling strategy, given they endorse Democrats over Republicans in every race except for the Frankel-Loomer contest.
“The important thing here is Loomer is so little of a Republican that she’s throwing the whole [Republican] slate, including Trump, under the bus,” Siegel said. “Because they’re giving out pro-Biden stuff. It’s the entire Democratic party ticket.”
On Thursday afternoon, the fake voter guides were no longer handed out at the Lantana Road Branch Library voting site. Volunteers were taken aback by what had transpired earlier.
“That’s just mind boggling — wow,” said Barry Imhoff who was passing out laminated cards she had made encouraging voters to nudge three friends to vote. “That is horrible.”
Her friend Vickie Lehuray was given a stack of cards to pass out that listed all the Democrats running for office. Lehuray breathed a sigh of relief when she checked to make sure the cards were legitimate.
“We are trying to make a difference,” she said.