Lake City Police Chief Lives Outside City Limits: Registers and votes in city
Posted August 29, 2012 07:50 pm | Part I
Lake City Police Chief Gilmore: file photo
LAKE CITY, FL – The drama never seems to end in Lake City, the latest being the discovery that Lake City's Police Chief, Argatha Gilmore, who lives in Columbia County, is registered to vote and voted in the August 14, 2012 primary, using Lake City Police Headquarters as her home residence. This enabled Chief Gilmore to vote in the Lake City primary in City District 12, which pitted incumbent Jake Hill against newcomer Zack Paulk. Councilman Hill, a critic of Chief Gilmore, lost his bid for reelection.
The voter registration laws are clear and specific. You must use your legal residence to register to vote, which is spelled out on the registration form this way: "Address Where You Live."
You can change your address and voter information at the DMV
Links:
•
Part I – Lake City Police Chief Lives Outside City
Limits: Registers and votes in city
• Part II – LCPD Chief finally registered to vote where she lives.
State Attorney passed buck - got it back
•
Part III – LCPD's Chief Gilmore gets an EZ Pass from State Attorney
"Skip" Jarvis in alleged voter fraud issue
If one changes their existing Florida voter registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), one must give two proofs of residential address. Both the Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Office and the Tax Collector's Office explained proof of address to be a light or power bill, phone bill, tax bill, lease or other clearly identifying information that "shows where you live."
Representatives of both the Supervisor of Elections and the Tax Collector's Office said they are not the police.
When one changes one's address at a DMV office, the information is scanned into a computer and sent to a data base in Tallahassee. One can change their information at any DMV office in the state. After the information is accepted by the clerk at the DMV, an oral oath is given, in which the person changing their address swears, under the penalty of perjury, that the information provided is true.
Once the information is changed, the information is sent from Tallahassee to the local Supervisor of Elections Office, where the information is inputted into its data base. There appears to be no way for the local Supervisor of Elections Office to know which DMV office accepted the change of address.
Where does Lake City's Police Chief live?
Different sources have reported that Chief Gilmore has lived off of Brown Road for at least a year. A high governmental official has also told the Observer that Chief Gilmore lives off of Brown road. Brown Road is not in Lake City and it appears to be common knowledge that the Chief does not live in the City limits.
It also appears that even though Chief Gilmore moved to Lake City late in 2009, she did not change here address until July of 2011. In September of 2010, Chief Gilmore did not turn up in a search of the Columbia County Supervisor of Election's data base. Chief Gilmore's reporting date of employment was September 28, 2009. Her letter of engagement did not state that she was required to move to Lake City.
In July of 2011, Chief Gilmore changed her address at a DMV Office. The information that was sent to Columbia County showed that she lived at 225 NW Main Blvd, Lake City, FL. Google "Lake City Florida Police Department" and it gives the address as 225 NW Main Blvd., which is the Lake City Police Department Hdq. (Google earth image of 225 NW Main can be found here. Click on image to enlarge).
This is the Argatha Gilmore section from the August 28,
2012 voting records data base of the Columbia County
Supervisor of Elections.
Supervisor of Elections Voting Records
The most recent Columbia County Supervisor of Elections data base dated August 28, 2012, clearly shows that "Argatha Gilmore" voted early in the August 14th primary and that she voted in Lake City's District 12, using as her residence, the Lake City Police Department Headquarters.
The Law
The Florida Statutes are clear and specific. "False swearing; submission of false voter registration information" is a felony. "Fraud in connection with casting a vote" is a felony.
City Councilman Jake Hill weighs in
City Councilman Jake Hill told the Observer: If it is proven that Chief Gilmore willingly gave a false address or voted where she knew she shouldn't have, then she should resign. If she doesn't resign then the City Manager should remove her. If the City Manager won't remove her, the Council should remove them both. If it is a mistake, then it looks like once again the Police Chief has a lot of explaining to do.
Epilogue
At approximately 11:45 am late this morning, the Observer relayed to a high placed city official the facts in this article and asked, "Please get back to me if you find something wrong." The Observer's phone never rang.
