Man acquitted of illegally voting in 2020 arrested again in Gibsonton

Nathan Hart. Image via HSCO.

The first man in Florida put on trial for voting in the 2020 election has been arrested again.

Gibsonton man Nathan Hart was arrested on Thursday for false sworn statements.

Arrest records from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office show Hart was arrested at his home by sheriff’s deputies on a warrant.

Hart previously was arrested in August as part of the first rounds of arrests following creation of an elections police force. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced 20 individuals would face charges for voter fraud.

All had registered to vote after passage of a constitutional amendment automatically restoring voting rights for felons who served time and met financial obligations to the state, but that amendment did not apply to those convicted of murder or sexual offenses.

Hart was among those arrested in August, at the time on charges of wrongly registering to vote in March 2020 and then voting in the presidential election. He notably registered as a Republican. On his application, Hart affirmed a statement on the application that said “I am not a convicted felon, and if I am, my right to vote has been restored.”

Hart has been convicted in 2006 of lewd and lascivious molestation, according to his August warrant. That meant he should not have had his voting rights restored.

He chose to go to trial rather than accept a plea deal. He claimed in trial that he had been told outside a driver’s license office that he was not eligible to vote, and should register.

A jury acquitted him of knowingly voting illegally, but still found he lied on his voter registration application, The Guardian reported at the time. He was later sentenced to five years of probation.

The state has ramped up its clampdown on illegal voting. New legislation already signed into law now allows a statewide prosecutor to handle voting fraud cases statewide, and the Legislature has continued to fund a dedicated election police force under DeSantis.