Bradenton man arrested on charge of voter fraud

A man was arrested without incident by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday after requesting a ballot for his deceased wife.

Larry Wiggins, 62, admitted to detectives that he mailed in the request. Wiggins said he was “testing the system to see if it worked.” This is the first instance of voter fraud in Manatee County since at least 2013, according to Scott Farrington, the county's assistant supervisor of elections.

The Supervisor of Elections office reviewed the ballot request and noticed the signature on the deceased woman’s ballot did not match the handwriting on her voter registration form, then confirmed that she died in 2018. The office notified deputies Sept. 17.

Based on the suspect’s statements and evidence collected, Wiggins was charged with Requesting Vote by Mail Ballot on Behalf of Another Elector, a third-degree felony.