Eatonville's new mayor accused of bribing voters for absentee ballots

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Tuesday it's investigating allegations  against new Mayor Anthony Grant over Eatonville's recent election.

Former Mayor Bruce Mount's attorney, Jake Stuart, claims in the civil complaint that Grant bribed people to vote for him via absentee ballot in order for him to win the election.

"We didn't violate anything," Grant told Eyewitness News.

Staurt said Mount hasn't been able to officially move forward with the lawsuit because Grant has been dodging the person trying to serve him the paperwork.

But Grant said he's not trying to avoid to lawsuit and simply hasn't been served the documents yet. He denies bribing any voters in the mayoral election.

"Absolutely not," Grant said when asked about the accusations.

Mount won the election at the polls on Election Day and during early voting. However, Grant won the election because he had three times as many absentee votes as Mount.

Some residents are torn on whether or not they believe the allegations.

"I don't believe it's true. I mean, he helps people but bribes, no. Not at all," resident Lashonda Anthony said.

Stuart said they have witnesses who claim Grant told them he'd lower their rent at property he owns if they'd vote for him. In addition, there are other claims that Grant agreed to pay residents for their absentee votes.

"Looking at the differences between what happened at the poll versus early voting versus absentee, we knew something was really, really up," Stuart said.

"We'll let the courts sort that out," Grant said.