HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – The Ticktin Law Group, representing U.S. Navy veteran Robert “Rocky” Rochford, has filed a lawsuit in the Second Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee, alleging widespread irregularities and fraudulent practices in the administration of vote-by-mail ballots during the recent election in Florida’s 14th Congressional District.
The complaint names Congresswoman Kathy Castor, election officials, and others as defendants, claiming election misconduct enabled Castor to defeat Republican challenger Rochman.
The lawsuit centers on a reported spike in vote-by-mail ballot requests on September 9, when 198,166 requests were processed in a single day—an figure that far exceeded typical daily volumes, according to attorney Peter Ticktin.
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“While one would expect hundreds or even a few thousand requests on any day, there was one day which was off the charts. On Sept. 9, we saw an impossible 198,166 requests processed. Of those, 37,000 lacked the required driver’s license number or last 4 digits of the voter’s Social Security Number. These are mandatory safety controls to identify fraud, but were overridden,” said Peter Ticktin.
Ticktin further alleged that similar fraudulent practices likely occurred in prior elections but were only identified this year. “This time, we caught them,” he said.
Rochman is asking the court to:
- Order an independent investigation into the administration of vote-by-mail ballots in the November 5 election.
- Nullify the certification of the election results.
- Mandate a new election for the congressional district encompassing Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.
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The lawsuit names several defendants, including:
- Kathy Castor, U.S. Congresswoman representing District 14.
- Julie Marcus, Supervisor of Elections in Pinellas County.
- Craig Lattimer, Supervisor of Elections in Hillsborough County.
- Cord Byrd, Florida’s Chief Election Officer.
The complaint alleges violations of Florida statutes, including the improper issuance of vote-by-mail ballots without the required identification, amounting to official misconduct. Ticktin stated that the breakdown of internal controls “invites and encourages fraud, misconduct, and corruption that makes election results unreliable.”
The lawsuit suggests that vote-by-mail irregularities may have influenced not just this race but others across the country. “The only reason Donald Trump won the election was because he obtained a result ‘too big to rig,’” Ticktin claimed.
He also alleged that many other Republican candidates, including Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, overcame fraudulent vote-by-mail tallies through high turnout among legitimate voters.
Castor claimed reelection victory with 56.9% of the vote to Rochford’s 41.6%.
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