A Minnesota woman is accused of mailing in a ballot for her late mother. A routine check revealed it

By Johannes Hanna

A northern Minnesota woman accused of trying to submit a ballot for her recently deceased mother has been charged with three felonies, showing how routine election safeguards thwart rare cases of attempted voter fraud.

Officials in Itasca County, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, said Monday that the improper voting was spotted because the state provides a monthly list of people who have died to election officials, who then flag those names in the state’s voter registry. registration database. The woman returned ballots for herself and her mother in early October, and the county office, which oversees local elections, quickly determined that the mother had died in late August, nearly three weeks before it began sending out absentee ballots.

The criminal case was filed last week in state court in Grand Rapids against former President Donald Trump kept suggesting he will only lose the November 5 elections if his political opponents cheat. There was no evidence of significant voter fraud in the 2020 elections, which Trump lost, and there is no evidence that Trump’s opponents can or will rig this year’s election.

The woman told a sheriff’s lieutenant in an interview that she had filled out her mother’s ballot after her mother’s death, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court. The statement said the woman was an “ardent” Trump supporter who had wanted to vote for him before her death.

Itasca County Attorney Jake Fauchald said the case shows that election officials can recognize problems and that even rural counties have the resources and willingness to prosecute election fraud. Itasca County has a population of approximately 45,000.

“It was flagged almost immediately,” Fauchald said. “We have ways to intercept and flag these fraudulent ballots and we are going to do something about it so those ballots don’t get through.”

The woman’s first appearance is scheduled for December 4. She is charged with one count of illegal voting and two counts of making or signing a false certificate, accused of forging her mother’s signature both on the mother’s ballot and as a witness. on her own. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

It was not clear whether the woman has a lawyer and ten telephone directories for her online were out of service. She did not immediately respond to a Facebook message seeking comment on Monday.

Fauchald said this is the first case of voter fraud in the county during the current election cycle.