Canadian admits voting in Florida

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A Canadian citizen living in Florida has admitted voting in the 2008 U.S. presidential race and falsely claiming citizenship to get firearms permits.

Josef Sever, 52, of Plantation, faces as much as years in prison, The Miami Herald reported. He pleaded guilty Thursday to voting fraudulently and to a weapons charge.

Under pressure from Republican Gov. Rick Scott, the Florida Department of State assembled a list of 180,000 possible non-citizens who were registered. The department sent only one name to the Department of Law Enforcement, Sever's.

Sever was born in Austria and emigrated to Canada. He admitted he also voted in an earlier presidential race.

The state has adopted a number of measures aimed at cutting election fraud. But officials say only six cases of suspected fraud are being investigated in a state where 11 million people are registered to vote.

Florida is one of several states in which Republican governors and legislatures have passed legislation supporters say is intended to prevent voter fraud.