WaPo: “When incumbent Democrat José Javier Rodríguez lost his Florida state senate seat to Republican challenger Ileana Garcia by just 32 votes in November, the losing party and investigators began asking questions about a suspicious third candidate.
A man named Alexis “Alex” Rodriguez — who shared the incumbent’s last name — appeared on the ballotbut never campaigned, never spoke publicly, and could not be reached by reporters after he took thousands of votes on Election Day.
Now, the mysterious candidate and a former Republicanstate senator are facing felony charges for crimes stemming from a plot to “confuse voters and siphon votes from the incumbent,” police said in an affidavit filed this week.”