Florida’s Attorney General just caught one marijuana activist red-handed using a dead voter’s name to push drug legalization

Democrats love to tell you voter fraud doesn’t exist.

They claim it’s just a Republican talking point designed to suppress votes.

And Florida’s Attorney General just caught one marijuana activist red-handed using a dead voter’s name to push drug legalization.

Florida election police bust petition forger dead to rights

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier dropped the hammer on Alexandria Mary Beatrice Tatem after investigators discovered she’d been playing games with petition signatures.

The paid petition circulator thought she could slip one past election officials by forging the signature of Amy Akins on a marijuana legalization petition.

Just one problem – Amy Akins died on January 10, 2024, more than a year before Tatem claimed to have watched her sign the petition.

“We will not tolerate fraud, let alone fraud that undermines the integrity of Florida’s nation-leading election system or uses the names of deceased voters to change our state’s constitution,” Uthmeier announced.¹

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Elections Crime Unit – you know, that police force Democrats said was “voter intimidation” – actually did its job and caught a fraudster in the act.

Tatem now faces one count of perjury by false written declaration, a third-degree felony that could land her in prison for up to five years.

The confession that sealed her fate

Here’s where it gets even better.

When FDLE investigators tracked Tatem down in Killeen, Texas on July 1, they showed her proof that Amy Akins had been dead for over a year.

And get this – Tatem still admitted she signed the affidavit swearing she’d witnessed the signature.

She knew the voter was dead and submitted it anyway.

This wasn’t some rookie mistake either. Tatem has been a registered Paid Petition Circulator since 2019, working the Tampa Bay and Sarasota areas.

She knew exactly what she was doing when she signed that affidavit under penalty of perjury.

The petition was for Smart & Safe Florida’s latest attempt to legalize recreational marijuana after their 2024 measure fell short of the required 60% threshold despite getting 57% support.

DeSantis saw this coming from a mile away

Governor Ron DeSantis didn’t wait around for more fraud to happen.

Earlier this year, he signed legislation requiring online training and registration for petition gatherers, restricting the practice to Florida residents only, and limiting submissions to 25 at a time unless you’re an official circulator.

The leftist activists screamed bloody murder, claiming it would make ballot initiatives “impossible.”

What they really meant was it would make fraud harder to pull off.

And wouldn’t you know it – Uthmeier, who chaired the Keep Florida Clean committee that opposed last year’s marijuana initiative, is now the Attorney General catching these fraudsters.

That’s not a coincidence. That’s what happens when you put people in charge who actually care about election integrity.

The bigger picture Democrats don’t want you to see

Think about this for a second.

This is just one petition circulator who got caught because she was sloppy enough to use a dead person’s name.

How many others are out there being more careful? How many fake signatures made it through on other petitions?

Democrats and their marijuana-pushing allies needed more than 880,000 valid signatures to get their latest pot amendment on the 2026 ballot. They’ve already recorded 661,000.

But now we know at least some of those were fraudulent.

Smart & Safe Florida declined to comment on the arrest.² Of course they did. What are they going to say – “Yeah, we hired someone who commits fraud”?

This is the same crowd that wants you to believe voter fraud never happens. The same people who say requiring ID to vote is “racist.” The same activists who claim signature verification is “voter suppression.”

And here they are, caught using a dead woman’s name to change Florida’s constitution.

The arrest comes as these leftist groups complain that new laws make it “increasingly difficult” to gather signatures.³

You know what? Good.

If making it harder to commit fraud means making it harder to get your pet project on the ballot, that’s a feature, not a bug.

Florida’s election police are doing exactly what they were created to do – protect the integrity of the state’s elections from people who would corrupt them for political gain.

And James Uthmeier just showed every fraudster in Florida that there are real consequences for trying to game the system.

¹ Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier, “Attorney General James Uthmeier announces arrest in constitutional amendment petition fraud investigation,” Press Release, August 15, 2025.

² Jacob Ogles, “James Uthmeier’s Office arrests marijuana amendment petition gatherer for submitting dead woman’s signature,” Florida Politics, August 15, 2025.

³ Ibid.