President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump both put out-of-state addresses down on their Florida voter applications when they fir...
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump both put out-of-state addresses down on their Florida voter applications when they first tried to register in the state.
But correctly changing it to Mar-a-Lago has created problems for the president too, as The Washington Post reported Monday that three formal complaints have now been made to the Florida Elections Commission and Florida Department of State over Trump's voter registration.
The complaints point to the president's interest in preventing 'voter fraud,' while accusing him of engaging in just that - as Mar-a-Lago is restricted from being used as a private residence due to an agreement Trump signed with the Town of Palm Beach in 1993.
President Trump (left) and first lady Melania Trump (right) are being scrutinized for how they decided to re-register to vote. Both of the Trumps used an out-of-state address to register to vote in Florida and then changed it to say they lived at Mar-a-Lago
The president first registered to vote in Florida by saying he lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C., which goes against state law, as voters need to provide an in-state address
Both President Trump and first lady Melania Trump changed their Florida voter registrations to reflect that they lived at Mar-a-Lago, the president's social club. This is problematic because a 1993 agreement with Palm Beach prohibited Mar-a-Lago from being a private residence
In September 2019, President Trump registered to vote in Florida, but used an out-of-state address - the White House's. The Washington Post reported Monday that first lady Melania Trump made the same mistake on her vote registration too
A month later, President Trump submitted a new application using the address of his private club, Mar-a-Lago, to vote in Florida. As of Monday there were three complaints from Florida residents about Trump using the club's address - as they claimed it was 'illegal'
In 1993, President Trump struck a deal with the Town of Palm Beach, which turned Mar-a-Lago into a private club, owned by a Trump-controlled corporation, instead of a private residence. That means, according to critics, that Trump can't say he's a resident at Mar-a-Lago's address
The complaint Monday made to the Florida Department of State charges Trump with 'voting from [a] false address.'
'As the president has observed many times, there is substantial risk of elections being undermined by intentional fraud,' the complaint reads, adding that the president has 'intentionally filed' a misleading Declaration of Domicile because he is 'fully aware' of the negotiations between the Town of Palm Beach and the Trump Organization on how the Mar-a-Lago property is categorized.
Under the 1993 agreement, Mar-a-Lago went from being a single-family residence to a private club owned by a corporation that Trump controls.
The property is taxed as a private club.
Trump was allowed to maintain 'private quarters' at the club. But the distinction restricted anyone from staying at Mar-a-Lago for more than 21 days a year, and one week at a time.
The Florida voter who filed the complaint with the Florida Department of State said that when Trump wrote that his address was 1100 S Ocean Blvd, 'This is a false statement of fact because Mar-a-Lago is his ILLEGAL residence.'
'As part of the quid pro quo for Mar-a-Lago club becoming a social club, Donald Trump gave up his right to LEGALLY reside at Mar-a-Lago,' the complaint pointed out.
The complaint filed with the Florida Elections Commission accuses Trump for violating the law for using Mar-a-Lago's address to vote in the 2020 Florida Republican primary, which took place in March.
The complaint lists the Town of Palm Beach's attorney John 'Skip' Randolph as a witness, as he drafted Trump's deal that changed Mar-a-Lago from a residence to a club.
Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, who tweeted about the two new complaints Monday - and the revelation that Melania Trump made the same mistake that her husband did when changing her voter registration to Florida - had initially reported on a complaint filed with the Florida Department of State on Thursday.
That initial complaint was filed by Jim Watson, a semi-retired truck driver who lives in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Like the two new complaints Watson said Trump is barred from using Mar-a-Lago as a residence because it's a private club.
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