Tipsheet

A Palm Beach Election Volunteer Was Arrested Days After a Special Election and the Reason Why Is Alarming

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  March 31, 2026 1:30 PM

An elections office volunteer was just arrested for stealing computer equipment from a Palm Beach County elections office. That equipment was reportedly used in the March 24 special election in the district, which includes President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. The theft was reported on March 27, but allegedly occurred on March 19, days before the election.

A Democrat won that race by 800 votes.

The entire post reads:

Investigators worry that the encryption — used for training — could be reverse-engineered and used to tamper with voter registration.

The theft was reported on March 27, a few days after last Tuesday's special election, per WPTV. The theft occurred on March 19, just days before election day.

"During the search of [John] Panicci's home, detectives recovered the stolen items along with a substantial amount of electronic and digital storage devices. Panicci was transported to the Palm Beach County Jail and booked on charges."

Election integrity is vital to our republic. If it's happening in Florida — IT'S HAPPENING NATIONWIDE

And here's more from WPTV:

John Panicci was taken into custody Saturday at his home following an investigation into the theft of an encrypted access key from a voter registration terminal at the elections office.

The incident occurred during a volunteer training session on March 19 for the March 24 election. According to detectives, Panicci stole the encrypted access key during the training at the elections office located at 4301 Cherry Road.

While the stolen key was configured only for training databases, officials expressed concern that someone with technical knowledge could reverse-engineer the encryption and reintroduce it into a voter registration kiosk for malicious purposes.

The theft was reported to authorities on March 27, prompting an investigation by Palm Beach County detectives. After identifying Panicci as the suspect and establishing probable cause, investigators obtained both an arrest warrant and a residential search warrant.

During the search of Panicci's home, detectives recovered the stolen items along with a substantial amount of electronic and digital storage devices. Panicci was transported to the Palm Beach County Jail and booked on charges.

This raises questions about election integrity and the use of technology in our elections.

"Every argument for keeping electronic systems essentially boils down to convenience. We should not be trading election integrity for convenience," Van Swol wrote.

It's likely that the systems in Palm Beach work similarly, even if they're not Dominion-based.

They've also admitted that fraud and cheating happen, but it's rare. That is unacceptable.

Good. November means he can win.

We would not be surprised at all.

As of yesterday afternoon, Panicci was in the Palm Beach County Jail on $6,000 bail. He is charged with property crimes, including taking, damaging, or stealing computer equipment, supplies, or electronic devices, and theft.