1997 Miami mayoral election

1997 Miami mayoral election

← 1993 November 4, 1997
November 13, 1997 (runoff)
2001 →
 
Nominee Xavier Suarez Joe Carollo
Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan
Popular vote 23,598 20,739
Percentage 53.2 46.8

Mayor before election

Manny Diaz
Democratic

Elected mayor

Tomás Regalado
Republican

The 1997 Miami mayoral election took place on November 4 and November 13, 1997, to elect the mayor of Miami, Florida. It is notable for being overturned due to electoral fraud.[1]

In the first round, incumbent Joe Carollo won 51.4% of ballots cast at the polls, while his main opponent, former Mayor Xavier Suarez, won 61.5% of absentee ballots. In total, Suarez had a slim 155-vote lead. Since no candidate received a majority, a runoff election was held, which Suarez won. Carollo challenged the results of the first round, claiming that absentee ballot fraud had denied him the majority needed to win without a runoff.[2]

An investigation found that nearly 400 absentee ballots had been fraudulently cast, including by felons and dead people.[1][2][3] United States circuit court judge Thomas S. Wilson Jr. threw out the results in the spring of 1998. He cited "a pattern of fraudulent, intentional and criminal conduct" in the casting of absentee ballots and wrote that "this scheme to defraud, literally and figuratively, stole the ballot from the hands of every honest voter in the city of Miami". Wilson ruled that there was no evidence Suarez had known about the fraud. He ordered a new election, but a federal appeals court instead declared Carollo the winner outright.[1][2][4]

  1. ^ a b c Lee, Kurtis (January 25, 2017). "Here's how voter fraud once tipped an election". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 7, 2024. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Minnite, Lorraine (2003). "An Analysis of Voter Fraud in The United States" (PDF). Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "Former Mayor Wins an Upset In Miami Ballot". The New York Times. November 14, 1997. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
  4. ^ Navarro, Mireya (March 5, 1998). "Fraud Ruling Invalidates Miami Mayoral Election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2024.