Controversy and voter fraud attempt surrounds balloting in TallyMadness; voting will begin again at noon

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This wouldn’t be Florida if there wasn’t a little voter fraud, even in an otherwise harmless “beauty competition” to determine the state’s “best” lobbyist.

It was discovered and proven to me by my IT staff that a massive, coordinated voter fraud program had been implemented to further the candidacy of a TallyMadness’ competitor. Upon learning that an attempt was underway to disenfranchise the other law-abiding TallyMadness voters, I shut down voting at 9:26 p.m. and moved forward the winning lobbyists.

The lobbyist on whose behalf the voter fraud program had been undertaken was subsequently eliminated. However, let me be clear that the lobbyist central to this voter fraud was, in my belief, completely unaware of what had taken place. 

Supporters of this lobbyist have subsequently accused me personally of “rigging” the competition to benefit certain individuals. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

As proof, I suggest those making such accusations look at the roster of those lobbyists still in the competition. Although I know most of them, they are not “my people.” Had I wanted to throw the results of TallyMadness, Nick Iarossi would be facing off against Chris Dudley and Chris Flack, who represents one of SaintPetesBlog’s largest advertisers, would have made it past the first round.

So let’s all calm down.

Voting in the Elite Eight will start back up at noon.

Let’s try not to ruin a good thing.

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.