Surveillance photos suggest Susan Plasencia doesn’t live where she’s registered to vote

Pictures from a private investigator show Susan Plasencia staying regularly at a home where she is no longer registered to vote.

Republican House candidate Susan Plasencia changed her voter registration this year to a new home as she campaigns in House District 37. She voted from that new address during the August Republican Primary.

But the east Orlando home, a three-bedroom house just off Colonial Drive, also serves as the address to four other registered voters.

Florida Politics obtained photographs taken by a private investigator suggesting Plasencia still lives at a prior address, one where her mother still maintains a homestead. There’s no indication in the private report that Plasencia regularly steps foot near the home where she is now registered to vote.

Plasencia, an Orlando Republican, won the Republican nomination in HD 37 in August. She now faces state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat seeking a fourth term in the House.

Plasencia, after a previous version of the story was published, said she in fact lives at the same address where she is registered, but has obligations at the former home where her mother still lives.

“My voter registration and where I reside are the same address.  Earlier this year, I moved residences. In doing so I renounced my homestead exemption at my former residence and updated my address with the appropriate state and local entities,” Plasencia said in an email.

“My life is very busy with work, campaigning and most importantly, caring for my mother, who is in hospice at her home. She requires 24-hour care and I cover the night shift. The fact that my opponent hired someone to stalk me during this difficult time for my family is both disrespectful and creepy. Anyone who cares for Alzheimer’s patients knows the demands they require.”

Florida Politics did not receive the investigative report from Smith or his campaign.

It is not uncommon for political candidates to move to new political jurisdictions in order to run for office. With a new House map approved this year as part of a once-a-decade redistricting process, at least seven House incumbents seeking re-election filed in districts requiring them to move.

Plasencia was previously registered to vote at a home on Belles Lane that she and mother Norma Plasencia purchased in 2016. That home on the new House map sits in House District 35, where GOP state Rep. Fred Hawkins is seeking re-election.

Property records still list Susan Plasencia as a partial owner for the Belles Lane home, though she requested in February of 2021 that her name be taken off a homestead exemption. An exemption remains in her mother’s name.

The candidate shifted her voter registration to a new property on Sue Ann Street as of March 2, according to a voter audit report provided by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. That’s a property owned since 2004 by Hector Hernandez, an Orlando Republican also registered to vote from the address.

In addition to Placensia and Hernandez, three other adults are registered to vote from the location. It notably is a bipartisan household, home to Democrats Ana Gonzalez, Xavier Hernandez and David Gonzalez Perez. And indeed, Plasencia in political advertisements has expressed a commitment to working across the aisle.

But political disagreements aren’t the most significant threat to quality of life in the home. Property records show the property hosts in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house with just 1,060 square feet of living area on a single floor.

That’s considerably smaller than Plasencia’s prior living space. The house still serving as her mother’s home address has 2,332 square feet of living space, and has two bathrooms.

Discomfort alone may not prove Plasencia lives somewhere other than where she’s registered to vote. But findings of a private investigator raise further questions about her residency.

Documents obtained by Florida Politics show the investigator conducted surveillance on the Sue Ann Street property, where Plasencia is registered to vote, from mid-August to late September. Of note, another woman who is not registered to vote at the location was seen regularly coming and going from the location with her own child. That’s potentially two more people living inside or at least visiting the crowded house. But the investigator never saw Plasencia or her vehicle at the home.

Meanwhile, he reported seeing Plasencia and red Ford Fusion registered to the candidate at the Belles Lane address where she was previously registered.

The investigator documented Plasencia leaving that home for a round trip to Staples on Aug. 25, then staying in the home the rest of the day. On Sept. 4, Plasencia’s car was parked in front of that home as early at 7:45 a.m. The investigator also reported the car was in the driveway after 3 a.m. on the mornings of Sept. 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 22.

All those dates were after Plasencia had voted by mail in the Republican Primary election while registered as a voter in HD 37 at the Sue Ann Street address.

Discrepancy in her home address doesn’t necessarily raise issues about Plasencia’s candidacy. The Florida Constitution only requires candidates for the House to be residents of their districts at the point of their election. That means Plasencia only needs to be a resident of HD 37 by midnight of the General Election on Nov. 8 in order to take office should she win.

But Florida’s voting laws could create a greater headache for the candidate. Voting statutes state: “A person is not permitted to vote in any election precinct or district other than the one in which the person has his or her legal residence and in which the person is registered.” To change addresses requires voters to affirm through a change of legal residence. Violating the law constitutes a third-degree felony.

As for what establishes legal residency, that’s not black and white in statute. Residency can be verified by what is reflected on a driver’s license, tax receipts, bank accounts, homestead exemptions, evidence of purchase or rental of a new property, or relocation of personal effects, according to a candidate handbook provided by the state. But it also says the ultimate determination of residency must be made by the courts.

PI report 1 by Jacob Ogles on Scribd

PI 2 by Jacob Ogles on Scribd