The state agency charged with monitoring election fraud in Florida has new leadership.
Jillian Pratt, a former assistant general counsel in the Florida Department of State, was appointed director of the Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security in March. She replaced Andrew Darlington, who accepted a role with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Conceived to contend with allegations of election fraud, the Office of Election Crimes and Security was established by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. Its responsibility is to conduct preliminary investigations into any alleged irregularities or fraud involving voter registration, voting, candidate or issue petition activities, or any other violation of Florida’s election code.
The agency inserted itself into last fall’s contested election regarding an abortion rights constitutional amendment. It did so by publishing a preliminary report alleging that fraud was committed in the petition-gathering process by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group working to pass a constitutional amendment. The group initially disputed the allegations, but later dropped its legal challenge.
The Office of Election Crime & Security’s annual report, published in January, was cited by Republicans who supported a bill passed during the 2025 Legislative Session that will make it much more challenging for citizen-led ballot initiatives to make it on the ballot in the future. Democrats countered that the report showed that fewer than 20 arrests were made for election fraud.
The agency’s first director was Peter Antonacci, who died in September 2022.
Pratt was promoted to director after serving as an assistant general counsel with the Office of Election Crimes and Security since 2023. Her previous legal work included clerkships with Allen Winsor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and Timothy D. Osterhaus of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
She was a prosecutor in the 2nd Judicial Circuit, which covers six counties in the Tallahassee area, and an attorney for the Florida Department of Health before coming to the Department of State.
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The Phoenix initially reported that the change in leadership at the Office of Election Crimes and Security was first noted in a footnote in a court filing in an election lawsuit. The Department of State sent an email to all Supervisors of Elections notifying them about the change in April. We regret the error.
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Mitch Perry reports via Florida Phoenix, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].
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