A Florida Teen's Homecoming Election Scandal

Emily Rose Grover of Cantonment, Florida was 17 when she won the Tate High School Homecoming Queen Election in the fall of 2020. Shortly after her victory, an anonymous ethics complaint was filed with the Escambia County School District claiming that Grover had rigged the election results. So began a nearly four-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) that resulted in the arrest of Grover and her 50-year-old mother, Laura Rose Carroll.

The Charges

Both women were charged with multiple third-degree felony offenses and were released on bond. Having turned 18 before her arrest, Grover was charged as an adult. Carroll was suspended from her job as an assistant principal in the Escambia County School District and Grover was expelled.

Hacking Into the School Database

Grover had access to her mother’s FOCUS account, an online database used by the school district to store sensitive student data such as grades, attendance, and personal information. The program also contained access to a third-party application where the votes for homecoming queen were recorded. Classmates recalled Grover flaunting her access for all four years of her high school career. One anonymous student told investigators, “She looks up all of our group of friends’ grades and makes comments about how she can find our test scores all of the time,” according to ABC News. After her expulsion, Grover admitted to using her mother’s FOCUS account to view student records, but denied the allegations about rigging the election.

FLDE Investigation

The FLDE investigation revealed that 246 votes for homecoming queen came from a cell phone and computers associated with Carroll’s home address. Carroll’s FOCUS account was used to access more than 300 high school student accounts starting in August 2019. Students at Tate High School reported hearing Grover brag about using her mom’s account to vote for herself in the homecoming election.

Consequences

Grover pleaded not guilty to the charges. After completing a pre-trial diversion in January 2022, the charges were all dropped in March 2022. After the publication of her arrest, Grover had a full-ride scholarship to one university rescinded and her face was replaced in the Tate High School yearbook with an image of a horse’s backside. Grover’s lawyer told the New York Post that Grover’s ” … life has been destroyed. She is trying to get back to a semblance of normalcy,” according to NYPost.com

Carroll pleaded no contest to the charge of using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony in exchange for the state dropping the other charges. In September 2022 she was convicted. Carroll was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation and also ordered to pay the costs of her supervised probation and/or perform community service.

References: Florida teen accused of rigging homecoming queen vote with mom charged as an adult | Former Tate Homecoming Queen Intends To Sue Following Vote Scandal | ‘Mean girl’ says life is ‘destroyed’ after she was accused of rigging homecoming queen election | State Appeal Court Denies Mom’s Appeal In Tate Homecoming Queen Scandal Case