LAST NIGHT'S presidential election has yet to be decided, and it seems Florida is the straw that will break the electoral camel’s back. This takes place amidst accusations from both sides that the media called Florida’s results too soon. There are also a number of allegations regarding voting irregularities in several counties in the Sunshine State. It seems, however, that Florida’s history of voter fraud is just as storied as the Bush political legacy. The most famous -- or infamous -- case involves the now derided ex-mayor of Miami, Xavier Suarez, whose last election in 1997 was overturned because of charges of voter fraud and falsification of records. And Suarez's relevance might not be limited to past election irregularities.

The charges in the mayoral race centered around allegations that addresses and names of Florida voters were falsified and altered by campaign staffers shared by Suarez and then city commissioner Humberto Hernandez. The case was originally reported by the Miami Herald, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Hernandez -- along with thirteen other volunteers and city officials -- was found guilty of the charges and received a 364 day prison sentence for his crimes.

Both Hernandez and Suarez were members of Dade County’s ultra-conservative Cuban-American Community, which vociferously charged racism and anti-Cuban bias amongst the prosecution. Roberto Pineiro, the judge in the Hernandez case, said at the time that the defendant attempted to "deflect the focus of the vote-fraud investigation by playing…the race card."

The charges and ensuing controversy resulted in the ousting of Suarez as the city’s mayor and the beginning of years of legal wrangling and back-and-forth accusations, with Suarez to this day claiming he is still the rightful mayor of Miami. While Suarez was intensively investigated by the Dade County Prosecutor’s Office, he was never charged or officially found guilty of any wrongdoing.

However, a civil case was later brought by eleven Dade County absentee voters and resulted in overturning the Suarez election. In that case, the jury found that Suarez and his staff did engage in vote fraud, specifically tampering with 5,000 absentee ballots. In an interview this morning, Suarez told FEED that he was "in no way involved in any wrongdoing," and boldly promised to run for the office yet again in the next election.

What is most stunning, though, is that Suarez now sits on the executive committee of the Miami-Dade Republican party and was specifically involved this year in helping get out the Republican vote. Suarez, who told FEED that he is working to become the committee’s chairman, said that leading up to last night’s election he "helped fill out absentee ballot forms and enlist Republican absentee voters in Miami-Dade County." If the 2000 or so disputed votes in the Palm Beach area are in fact returned from Buchanan to Gore, these same ballots may very well decide the presidential election in the coming hours.

"Dade County Republicans have a very specific expertise in getting out absentee ballots," he said. "I obviously have specific experience in this myself."

When told of this, Kendall Coffey, lead attorney in the original Suarez suit, said, "He said that?" Coffey, a recognized expert in absentee ballot law, added, "This is striking. Florida has a troubled history in absentee ballots. Republicans often tell voters that they can use absentee ballots if it is more convenient for them, but the law requires that there must be an inability or barrier to voting in person."

Coffey went on to say that Suarez’s participation in any part of enlisting absentee ballots troubled him deeply. "Suarez was found to have taken part in systematic and massive absentee ballot fraud. He was found to have done significantly better in absentee balloting than in the general vote." He went on to say that since that time, while some improvements have been made, "no one watchdogs absentee balloting, other than the campaigns themselves. The election commission has no authority to oversee the distribution of coordination of absentee ballots until they are counted."

"These ballots are going to decide the outcome of the closest race in a generation and, given Suarez’s and this state’s murky history with regard to absentee balloting, this calls for meticulous and vigorous investigation."