Despite comments from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel Lee that there is no need for an audit of the 2020 presidential election in Florida, the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee last week became the latest GOP-based group to pass a resolution making that request.

“I think that this is going to send a message to Governor DeSantis - hopefully – and our representatives up in Tallahassee that this is something that we really have to delve into, even though Florida won for Trump,” says Christine Quinn, a GOP congressional candidate in Florida’s 14^th Congressional District in Hillsborough County last year and who has filed to run again in 2022.

Local Republican and Democratic election officials agree with the governor and Secretary Lee that there’s no need for such an audit, however.

“We’ve already done an audit,” Hillsborough County Democratic Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer told Spectrum Bay News 9 on Monday afternoon. “We do an audit by law after every election. It’s laid out in statute how we do it, and I’m satisfied that our results are accurate. Totally accurate.”

Central Florida House Republican Anthony Sabatini has filed legislation calling for audits of the 2020 presidential election in counties with populations larger than 250,000. Donald Trump won Florida last year by 3.3 percent.

The Lake County Republican Party has also come out in support of Sabatini’s measure, earning a rebuke from Alan Hays, the county’s GOP Supervisor of Elections.

“The people who are asking us to do a forensic audit in Florida are asking us to violate the law, to go out on our own and do these rogue operations, and we’re not going to have any part of it,” Hays told Spectrum Bay News 9 last Thursday. “If the Legislature wants such an audit, they can order such an audit, and I’m sure that every supervisor in Florida would cooperate…we’re not going to turn over the administration of elections to this rogue group or that rogue group or any other group of people that are not authorized to administer the elections.”

Hays, Latimer and the other 65 supervisors of elections in the state all are standing unified behind a letter distributed last week that was authored by Marion County Elections Supervisor Wesley Wilcox, the president of the Florida Supervisors of Election. The missive referred to the “misinformation, disinformation and malinformation” that has been espoused by some in Florida since last year’s election.

“We are dedicated to the cause of election integrity, ensuring that every eligible voter’s ballot is counted accurately and that no fraud takes place,” the letter read. ”But false claims of fraud do not strengthen our elections. Instead, they degrade confidence in the institutions, and discourage citizen participation in our democracy.”

Jonathan Torres, a Hillsborough County Republican and the host of The Yard Sign podcast, says calling for an audit is a waste of time. He says that the local party needs to concentrate on getting more Republicans elected to the Tampa City Council, Hillsborough County Commission and the state legislature.

“This is just another distraction from their primary responsibility,” Torres says of the Hillsborough GOP. “There’s no red flags that I think warrant an issue like this…that needs to be brought up,” he says. “I think it’s a waste of resources and time.”

On social media, some Hillsborough County Republicans have cited concerns about the funding that the Hillsborough SOE’s office received last year from the Center for Technology and Civic Life, a nonprofit organization that received substantial funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. The group distributed grants to 12 counites in Florida in 2020.

“We did a huge voter registration drive and we had ads on buses. We had billboards. We did television, radio ads and the end result was that we had the highest turnout we’ve ever had for an election,” Latimer says in response to how the county used the funding to drive out turnout.

Many of the concerns about alleged voter fraud in 2020 come from Republicans who say that the vote-by-mail process was tainted. Quinn says that “we have evidence” from people who claim that they received multiple mail-in ballots yet  "never requested them.” 

Quinn was one of three Hillsborough Republicans who had been seeking a recount of the county’s mail-in ballots from last November’s election, before ending that pursuit this past March.

After Rep. Sabatini filed his bill requesting audits in the five biggest counties in Florida back in July, Florida Sec. of State Laurel Lee told Spectrum Bay News 9 that “Florida’s election in 2020 was accurate, transparent and conducted in compliance with Florida law,” a statement her office recirculated earlier this month.

Hillsborough County Republican Party Chair Jim Waurishuk was not available for comment, but he did send to Spectrum Bay News 9 the resolution the party passed last week calling for an audit of the 2020 election:

“Florida’s 2020 Election was considered accurate and conducted in compliance with Florida law, immediately after the November 2020 election, according to the FL Secretary of State.  However, later indications based on various independent review and analysis suggest there was fraud in a number of counties in FL. That has given pause for many voters, who as it stands, lack confidence in the security of the 2022 election and beyond. There is uncertainty on the part of voters.

At the same time, if you can’t identify and correct the impact of any election fraud that is identified, there stands a more than likely chance that such fraud will occur again.

Further, forensic audits serve as the foundation to also target election integrity legislation and amending and strengthening election and voter laws. There is no downside to forensic audits -- they show prudence, and provide assurance, and give voters confidence in our election system.”