• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

State Government Veteran Pete Antonacci Will Lead Florida’s Elections Police

July 7, 2022 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Pete Antonacci interviewed before the governor and Cabinet on Dec. 15, 2020, to run Florida’s Division of Administrative Hearings. (Florida Channel screenshot)
Pete Antonacci interviewed before the governor and Cabinet on Dec. 15, 2020, to run Florida’s Division of Administrative Hearings. (Florida Channel screenshot)

Long-time figure in Florida government Peter Antonacci has been tapped to lead Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election-crime investigation team.

DeSantis announced the Antonacci appointment through a press release on Wednesday. He will direct of the new Office of Election Crimes and Security under the Department of State, reporting to Secretary of State Cord Byrd.

The Legislature voted this year to create the office at DeSantis’ urging in a Republican-led push to ensure “voting integrity” despite the overall agreement that the 2020 election ran smoothly in Florida.




The law also imposes felony penalties for “ballot harvesting,” or delivering mail-in-ballots for multiple non-family members, as well as other restrictions.

Antonacci has had a decades-long history in Florida politics in a multitude of roles. The Phoenix previously reported that “governors since Bob Graham in the 1980s have turned to him for sensitive jobs.” These have included:

  • Director and chief judge of the Division of Administrative Hearings;
  • Broward County Elections Supervisor in 2018;
  • General counsel to former Gov. Rick Scott;
  • Deputy state attorney general under former Attorney General Bob Butterworth;
  • State attorney in Palm Beach County.

Leon Supervisor of Election Mark Earley said in a written statement distributed by the governor’s office that he trusts Antonacci “will serve the people of Florida with an even hand to ensure the continued fairness and sanctity of our elections process,” and that he “understands the complexities of election law and the need for a reserved and judicious application of the power this new office wields.”

‘Good choice’

Earley told the Phoenix that Antonacci was a “good choice” but that he remains skeptical about how the new elections investigation office could be misused.

“Time will tell how the office evolves,” said Earley, who also serves as the president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections.

florida phoenix“We have some concerns, seeing how other states have prosecuted, and there’s not a lot of checks on what this office can do,” Earley said.

Earley said that preexisting election statutes permit challenges to the eligibility of a voter, but that filing a frivolous challenge and complaint against a voter is a crime.

“But there’s no similar language in the powers of investigation and things like that area of statute with regards to this office,” he said. “It’s concerning to me because, potentially, this could be used to intimidate voters — potentially.”




Early did say that he worked with Antonacci before and that “he did a good job as a supervisor of Broward County in the 2020 election.”

“I have high regard for Pete Antonacci, and I think he’s, probably, of all the choices that were out there, one of the better choices available,” Earley said. “I don’t know who was being considered, but I think Pete’s, hopefully, on the right track here with this and will do it well.”

Pans from Fried

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination to run against DeSantis for governor, called the appointment “absurd” in a campaign email.

“Peter Antonacci is a Federalist Society darling. His appointment by DeSantis is purely political,” Fried said in a written statement. “We already have fraud laws on the books that should be enforced. What we need is real nonpartisan election reform.”

The Federalist Society is a conservative organization that advocates for so-called “originalist” interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and other conservative policies. Many of DeSantis’s appointments have ties to the organization.

–Danielle J. Brown, Florida Phoenix

Support FlaglerLive's End of Year Fundraiser
Thank you readers for getting us to--and past--our year-end fund-raising goal yet again. It’s a bracing way to mark our 15th year at FlaglerLive. Our donors are just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who seek us out for the best-reported, most timely, trustworthy, and independent local news site anywhere, without paywall. FlaglerLive is free. Fighting misinformation and keeping democracy in the sunshine 365/7/24 isn’t free. Take a brief moment, become a champion of fearless, enlightening journalism. Any amount helps. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible.  
You may donate openly or anonymously.
We like Zeffy (no fees), but if you prefer to use PayPal, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mark says

    July 7, 2022 at 10:41 am

    You got the headline wrong, should read “Elections Gestapo”.

  2. Art G Schwartz says

    July 7, 2022 at 11:00 am

    Just what problem does this expenditure solve?

  3. Pierre Tristam says

    July 7, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    You haven’t heard? John Breckinridge really won the 1860 election but for the fraud (you know, all those slaves shipped in to Illinois and New York and all those un-American states to vote Lincoln then shipped back on the Dredd Scott Express). Florida, which went Breckinridge (back when Southern Democrats were today’s embryonic Qanon), is still sore about that.

  4. Lee says

    July 7, 2022 at 11:09 pm

    I have no respect for Peter Antonacci. He is accepting a job whose sole purpose is to ensure DeSantis’ re-election, whether or not he receives the most votes. That makes him an accomplice to a fraud.

  5. MAT says

    July 9, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    Interesting to hear the ballyhooing. Why, when a policy or law is proposed to shore up and protect elections, there’s dread and fear in the push back from Democrats? Why is it, when the subject is voting, the Democrats are quick to point out there are enough laws already on the books, yet let the subject be guns, with the same argument offered by Conservatives, the Democrats become apoplectic? The only people who hate burglar alarms, are burglars.

  6. Skibum says

    July 10, 2022 at 9:33 am

    Well, sir, it is because, as in your offered comparison, a burglar alarm is supposed to catch the burglar, NOT the one who lives or works there. Exactly what was the perceived election crime that this partisan Deathsantis hack is supposed to police? Didn’t the gov’s own administration proudly say very publicly that Florida’s 2020 presidential election was the most secure election in the state’s history? YES, they did. Was any evidence at all of the type of widespread fraud that might have changed the election results found here in FL? Of course not. Is there any reason at all for creating this election police? Yes, there is and it is simply to stoke further doubt in the minds of conservatives that believe the big lie that somehow, somewhere, under some rock, despite any evidence to the contrary, that FL needs to further tighten a stranglehold on the election process, in other words, by suppression of certain votes, to ensure that voters keep electing only republicans to office, by hook or by crook. Had there been ANY evidence at all to support such a scheme, it certainly would have made headlines and been made public from the start, but there is not one bit of evidence that supports this election police fiasco because it is just a superficial and bald faced attempt to further the suppression of minority votes in this state to keep Deathsantis and his unethical minions in power… pure and simple.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Conner Bosch law attorneys lawyers offices palm coast flagler county
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Ray W, on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, May 10, 2025
  • JimboXYZ on Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris Thinks the FBI or CIA Is Bugging His Phone
  • The Villa Beach Walker on Flagler Beach Will Consider Selling Ocean Palm Golf Club to Leaseholder, With Conditional Milestones
  • Sherry on The African Penguin May Be Extinct by 2035
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Saturday, May 10, 2025
  • Ken on Flagler Beach Will Consider Selling Ocean Palm Golf Club to Leaseholder, With Conditional Milestones
  • Jake from state farm on NOAA Cuts Are Putting Our Coastal Communities At Risk
  • Skibum on Young Boy in Cardiac Arrest Saved by Flagler County 911 Team, Deputies and Paramedics
  • BillC on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 9, 2025
  • Larry on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Jim on $2.8 Billion Tax Cut Deal Collapses as Senate President Calls It Unsustainable in Light of Coming Budget Shortfalls
  • The dude on $2.8 Billion Tax Cut Deal Collapses as Senate President Calls It Unsustainable in Light of Coming Budget Shortfalls
  • don miller on Flagler Beach Will Consider Selling Ocean Palm Golf Club to Leaseholder, With Conditional Milestones
  • M.M. on Mayor Mike Norris’s Lawsuit Against Palm Coast Has Merit. And Limits.
  • Fun Outdoors on Flagler Beach Will Consider Selling Ocean Palm Golf Club to Leaseholder, With Conditional Milestones
  • Doug on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents

Log in