A student and her mother were arrested after the authorities found more than 100 votes suspiciously cast from a single school login.
The report about vote tampering reached the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in early November: Someone had gained access to electronic accounts without authorization. At least 117 votes had been suspiciously cast — in J.M. Tate High School’s election for homecoming court. It was a case reminiscent of the 1999 dark comedy film “Election.” Department agents arrested Laura Carroll,50, and her daughter, Emily Grover,17, on Monday and charged them with conspiracy to use Ms. Carroll’s school district login to help Ms. Grover get elected homecoming queen. A five-month investigation found that the login for Ms. Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School near Pensacola, was used to gain access to the internal accounts of 372 Tate High students since August. The accounts include personal information such as students’ grades, medical history and disciplinary records. Students use the same accounts with an application to cast votes for homecoming.
