Election Fraud Cases
Robert Rivernider Jr., a Republican Party activist and Donald Trump supporter, was charged by the state in Sumter County with 3 felony counts forgery of public records, fraud in connection with casting a vote, and passing a counterfeit instrument after submitting an absentee ballot that was not his own during the 2020 General Election. Rivernider forged his deceased father's signature on an absentee ballot and mailed it in. The Sumter County Election Supervisor noticed a discrepancy in the signature and found it was similar to Rivernider's own signature. He was convicted by a jury and is awaiting sentencing.
Source: herit.ag/3RO7qaJ , herit.ag/3tjyntD
Marcia Johnson, 70, of Lake Havasu City pleaded guilty to the Class D felony of Voting More Than Once in the November 2018 general election. Johnson cast her own mail-in ballot as well as one sent to her deceased father whose name remained on the voter rolls after his death in 2012. She was sentenced to one year of probation, charged a special assessment of $100, and fined $1,000.
Source: https://herit.ag/3IQEE1n, https://herit.ag/3iPCODu , https://herit.ag/3JW6n21, https://herit.ag/3tVwII2
Tracey Kay McKee, of Scottsdale, was indicted by a grand jury on one count of illegal voting and one count of perjury. McKee, a registered Republican, cast a ballot in the name of her deceased mother in the 2020 general election. She pleaded guilty to one count of illegal voting, a felony, was sentenced to two years of probation, and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $2,144 in fines and fees.
Source: https://herit.ag/3HUHrXH, https://herit.ag/3GVHMZ4 , https://herit.ag/3sb2oYw
Elizabeth Gale of San Diego was charged by the state with four felony counts of fraudulently casting a vote, impersonating a voter, attempting to vote as a fictious person, and personate with a written instrument after casting an absentee ballot on behalf of her deceased mother during the 2021 California Gubernatorial Recall Election. After absentee ballots were sent to all registered Madera County voters, Gale filled out the ballot, forged her mother's signature, and falsely swore as a witness to her mother signing the ballot. Gale pleaded nolo contendere to one felony count of fraudulently casting a vote. She was sentenced to two years’ probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3QKH06Z, https://herit.ag/3KdLJve
Devin King was charged by the state with one count of criminal use of personal identification information after fraudulently adding voters’ names and signatures to constitutional amendment ballot petitions. State election officials discovered that King had submitted over 500 forms and contacted law enforcement because the signatures of numerous voters did not match their signatures on file, personal information of voters was wrong, and forms that normally arrived worn looked “pristine.” Officials contacted 10 of the individuals who had supposedly signed the ballot petition forms, all of whom confirmed they had not signed the petitions, nor were they aware that their personal information was being listed on the ballot petition form. Another 10 individuals were deceased. King pleaded guilty to the felony charge and was sentenced to 1 year in prison with credit served for 5 days and fined $1,519 in court costs and fines.
Source: https://herit.ag/3ZoXo1y , https://herit.ag/3GsGG8N , https://herit.ag/3k4AQTH
Jordan Daniels was charged by the state with one felony count of criminal use of personal identification information after fraudulently adding voters’ names and signatures to constitutional amendment ballot petitions. State election officials discovered that Daniels had submitted over 50 forms and contacted law enforcement because the signatures of numerous voters did not match their signatures on file, personal information of voters was wrong, and forms that normally arrived worn looked “pristine.”. Officials contacted 10 of the individuals who had supposedly signed the ballot petition forms, all of whom confirmed they had not signed the petitions, nor were they aware that their personal information was being listed on the ballot petition form. Another 10 individuals were deceased. Daniels pleaded guilty to the felony charge and was sentenced to 10 months in jail, 14 months of probation, 100 hours of community service, $40 per month in supervision costs, and fined $1,669 in court costs and fines.
Source: https://herit.ag/3XiQOI3 , https://herit.ag/3k38pW7 , https://herit.ag/3ZtMjw7 , https://herit.ag/3k1t7Wq
Francis Presto of South Park, a registered Republican, requested and cast an absentee ballot on behalf of his deceased wife. He was charged with felonies for interfering with an election and unlawful use of a computer and a misdemeanor charge for forging a ballot. He was sentenced to a diversion program of 2 years and ordered to complete 250 hours of community service. His charges will be dropped upon completion of the terms of his diversion program.
Source: https://herit.ag/3ONL8BN, https://herit.ag/3P2FQT9, https://herit.ag/3OM1RoO
Melissa Fisher was charged with a misdemeanor count of violating absentee and mail-in ballot provisions after signing and submitting an absentee ballot on behalf of her deceased mother during the 2020 general election in Quakertown. She pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and two unrelated theft charges and was sentenced to 3 to 23 months in prison and 3 years’ probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3A4ZlUV
Cheryl Mihaliak was charged by the state in Lancaster County with two counts of forging and destroying ballots after filling out and submitting an absentee ballot on behalf of her deceased mother during the May 2022 primary election. Mihaliak had requested an absentee ballot for her and her mother (Teresa Mihaliak), as her caregiver, but her mother died on April 14 before she could fill out the ballot. However, the county board of elections received a ballot for the mother completed by her daughter on April 28. Mihaliak pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of forging and destroying ballots and was sentenced to 2 years of probation, assessed $1,610.75 in fines and fees, and is barred from voting for 4 years.
Source: https://herit.ag/46vmWwi , https://herit.ag/3MWw8mt , https://herit.ag/3GhgU7H
Caesar Abutin, of Norwalk, voted under the name of his deceased mother three times between 2012 and 2014. He was charged with one count of impersonating another voter, one count of fraudulently requesting an absentee ballot, and one count of fraudulent voting, all felony charges. He entered a diversion program with supervised probation for 12 months and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. If he successfully completes the program, the charges against him will be dismissed.
Source: https://herit.ag/2TCrAcu, https://herit.ag/3vLXjqd, https://herit.ag/3beDMoU
Donald Hartle, a Republican, was charged with two state felonies for voting twice in the 2020 general election, once under his own name and a second time via absentee ballot using his deceased wife's name. Hartle pleaded guilty to one count of “voting more than once at same election,” a Class D felony. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Hartle was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $2,000, and after he successfully completed his probation sentence, he was allowed to plead down to a lower charge of “conspiracy to commit voting more than once at same election,” a gross misdemeanor.
Source: bit.ly/3sDDaDq , bit.ly/32up0tA , bit.ly/3116CaS, https://herit.ag/3i62yya
Edward Snodgrass, a registered Republican and a Porter Township Trustee, was charged with one felony count of illegal voting after submitting an absentee ballot on behalf of his deceased father in the 2020 General Election. As part of his plea deal, Snodgrass pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of falsification, was sentenced to three days in jail, and fined $500.
Source: https://herit.ag/3BsROzS , https://herit.ag/3uVbsmM, https://herit.ag/3uRpXYz
Bruce Bartman was charged with falsely registering for an absentee ballot on behalf of his deceased mother and his deceased mother-in-law in the 2020 general election. A registered Republican, he used his mother’s driver license number and the last four digits of his mother-in-law’s social security number to register them as Republicans in effort to cast fraudulent ballots for Donald Trump. Bartman cast an absentee ballot in his mother’s name, but did not obtain an absentee ballot for his mother-in-law. Bartman pleaded guilty to two felony counts of perjury and one misdemeanor count of illegal voting. He was sentenced to five years’ probation, is barred from voting in any election for 4 years, and is no longer eligible to serve on a jury.
Source: bit.ly/3yojLqr, bit.ly/3fuAtM3 , bit.ly/340i2cN
Registered Republican Robert Richard Lynn was charged with a third-class misdemeanor for using his deceased mother’s credentials to cast an absentee ballot for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. He was sentenced to six months probation and 40 hours of community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3Cmw4VO, https://herit.ag/3bauXN9
Timothy Metz, a candidate for the Morgantown City Council, falsified 21 signatures of voters for his nomination petition, including one deceased person. He pleaded guilty to one count of falsely filing a certification of nomination and was sentenced as part of his plea agreement to a pre-trial diversion program with a 24 month period of supervised probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3l6slpx
Elizabeth Durham was charged with 5 felonies after attempting to change the voter registration of a deceased West Virginia voter. Durham pleaded no contest to one charge of petit larceny and one charge of unlawful voter registration and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was suspended to 6 months of probation.
Source: bit.ly/3qwJ5Yf
Larry Wiggins, 62, a registered Democrat from Sarasota, was charged by the state with one count of vote by mail fraud after he requested a mail-in ballot on behalf of his deceased wife during the 2020 general election. Election staff discovered the fraud during a routine check of the voter rolls, which revealed that his wife had died two years earlier. Wiggins forged his wife's signature on the ballot request form, and admitted that he intended to mail it back once he received it, but he was stopped by law enforcement. He pleaded nolo contendere to one count of vote-by-mail fraud, and was sentenced to 24 months’ probation, 100 hours of community service, and assessed $738 in court costs, fees, and fines.
Source: https://herit.ag/3Etplfa, https://herit.ag/3Vhy62G
Lauren C. Peabody, of Virginia Beach, worked as a campaign staffer for the GOP candidate in the 2nd Congressional District of VA. In that role, she signed off on petition signatures, that she did not witness, to get Shaun Brown, a Democrat, on the ballot as an Independent in order to take away votes from the Democratic nominee (her boss's main opponent). The signatures were forgeries of deceased individuals and former residents. She was charged with two counts of election fraud and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of "willful neglect of election duty." She received a 12-month suspended sentence based on a year of good behavior and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3BMDxh2
Richard Davis, of Pacific Grove, registered four dogs (Pfeiffer, Chantarelle, Rocky, and Cooper) and his deceased father to vote between 2013 and 2018. Davis was charged with voter registration fraud. He pled guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation and 48 hours of community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3l01oUz , https://herit.ag/3i4URpJ
Harry Maxwell, of Delaware County, was charged with absentee ballot fraud. In his confession, Maxwell said that he would pick up "girls" and get them to sign absentee ballots in the names of deceased indivduals. He pleaded guilty to one count of forgery, one count of false use of an absentee ballot, and two counts of criminal conspiracy, and was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to pay $500 in fines.
Source: https://herit.ag/3zHOOgU, bit.ly/3hh6BCf
Toni Lee Newbill pleaded guilty to voting twice using her deceased father's name to do so, once in the 2013 general election and again in the Republican primary of 2016. Newbill was sentenced to 18 months of unsupervised probation and 30 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay a $500 fine and additional court fees.
Source: dpo.st/2owWxOA, bit.ly/2q8FKBj, bit.ly/2pjbYHd
While working for People United for Medical Marijuana, Tomika Curgil submitted at least 15 fake voter registrations - using both fake names and names of the deceased - and five voter registrations which she filled out without the voters' consent. When investigators surveilled Curgil during a registration campaign day, she did not leave her house; however, she still submitted several absentee ballots. She was found guilty and given probation.
Source: bit.ly/2pRIEbx, hrld.us/2J4JWc6
Rebecca Hammonds, of East Liverpool, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of making a false registration and one count of election falsification. While working as a canvasser for the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Hammonds falsely registered voters, including deceased individuals and residents who no longer lived in the community. Hammonds was sentenced to serve 180 days in jail.
Source: https://herit.ag/3iQEhcl, https://herit.ag/3i4LiHm, https://herit.ag/3l22krt
Andrew Spieles pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his submission of eighteen fraudulent voter registrations in connection with the 2016 presidential election. While working for Harrisonburg Votes, a voter registration organization affiliated with the Democratic Party, Spieles falsified voter registration information. In some cases, he registered deceased individuals. In others, he fabricated information about residents so he could submit applications without their approval. Spieles was sentenced to 100 days' imprisonment.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rAyATU, https://herit.ag/3y9dz5b, https://herit.ag/3ba1QcC
Audrey Cook, a Madison County election judge, sent in a ballot marked for Donald Trump in the 2016 election on behalf of her recently deceased husband. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempted violation of the election code in exchange for dropping a felony perjury charge.
Source: https://herit.ag/3i4wdW6, https://herit.ag/3l1p4aZ, https://herit.ag/3x95kEW
Mark Evans voted by absentee ballot in the November 2014 election. He then cast a second absentee ballot, this time in the name of his deceased father-in-law. Following an investigation by the District Attorney's office and the County Clerk and Recorder's Office, the 62-year-old Ventura County resident was charged with misdemeanor voter fraud. He pleaded no contest and received three years' probation and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rH61Eb
Undercover New York City Department of Investigation agents testing the integrity of New York City elections were able to vote 61 times out of 63 attempts using the names of ineligible voters, known felons, and deceased city residents.
Source: https://herit.ag/3x5Rq6f, https://herit.ag/2WixOiC
Linda Earlette Wells pleaded guilty to impersonating a voter after she attempted to vote as her deceased mother. While she was a registered voter in Florida, Wells called the town where her mother had been registered, claimed to be her mother (who had passed away) and asserted that she had not, in fact, died. She then obtained an absentee ballot and attempted to vote in the 2012 presidential election.
Source: https://herit.ag/3yc39l6, https://herit.ag/3zEfTS0, bit.ly/2u6XdvZ
During the 2012 election, Russell Glassop obtained and submitted an absentee ballot in the name of his deceased wife. After Glassop pleaded guilty to absentee ballot fraud, the judge sentenced him to a diversion program.
Source: https://herit.ag/39BlbTv
Mark Evangelous was charged with violating absentee voting laws, uttering a false document, and forgery related to his submission of an absentee ballot application in the name of a deceased voter. Evangelous claimed he had input the name of his sister-in-law incorrectly. The absentee ballot charge was dismissed, and the judge continued his case without a finding for a year, ordering him to complete 200 hours of community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3eYoVBm
Lafayette Keaton pleaded guilty to making false statements to elections officials after using the identities of his deceased son and brother to cast multiple ballots. Keaton was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, fined $5,000, and was placed in a one-year post-prison supervision program.
Source: https://herit.ag/3knkIdF
Alvaro Jimenez-Aguilar, an illegal alien who overstayed his visitor's visa, was convicted of falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and filing a false Social Security application. He had assumed the identity of his deceased nephew by obtaining his birth certificate and other documents and applying for other documentation and benefits. He also registered to vote in Alaska under his nephew's name, despite being ineligible because he is not a U.S. citizen. Jimenez-Aguilar was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release, and his case was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be processed for deportation.
Source: https://herit.ag/2VjqhzS, https://herit.ag/3ybqFid
NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers was convicted on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots for voting in the names of 10 people, four of them deceased. She received a five-year sentence for each count, to be served concurrently.
Source: https://herit.ag/376jAn8
While employed by the Community Voters Project, Frank Edmund Walton registered 70 voters for the 2008 election. Only 16 of those registrations contained accurate information, and at least one contained the information of a deceased voter. He was convicted of one count of falsely procuring voter registrations and sentenced to 52 days in jail and fined $500.
Source: bit.ly/2e8I728
Kenneth Davison and Jerry D. Knight, two campaign workers for state Senator Terry Link, were indicted on felony forgery and perjury charges for placing phony signatures on petitions to get state Senator Terry Link on the 2008 Democratic primary ballot. These phony signatures included the names of deceased voters. Davidson pleaded guilty to nine counts of perjury and was sentenced to probation and 60 days in jail. Knight pleaded guilty to 11 counts of perjury and was sentenced to 24 months of probation and 100 hours of community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3i30STL, https://herit.ag/3l2VTVg, https://herit.ag/3x5db6h
Teresa Monahan, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, pleaded guilty to voter fraud in a referendum election for casting her own vote and then seeking to vote by an absentee ballot for her deceased brother. She was convicted of a fourth degree felony and entered into a diversion program that stipulates if she complies with the terms of her probation, the charge will be erased from her record. She was sentenced to between nine and 18 months on probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3710FKw
Jack Carol Crowder pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulent use of identifying information. Crowder impersonated his deceased father in the 2008 Democratic primary in Harris County. Crowder used his father's registration card to cast a ballot in his name. He was sentenced to one year of deferred adjudication and ordered to pay a $200 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3y9yt48, https://herit.ag/3zHOOxq
Joel Neal, of St. Louis, Missouri, voted twice in the 2008 primary election: once in person for himself, and once via absentee ballot in the name of his deceased mother. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one month of home confinement and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3f4s8zw
Verline Mayo, Gertrude Otteridge, and Mary McClatcher pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor voter fraud charges after admitting that, while acting as poll workers, they conspired to cast at least three falsified votes--two of them in the name of deceased voters--as part of a scheme to favor State Senate candidate Ophelia Ford. Ford won the 2005 election by only 13 votes, but the result was thrown out by the Senate citing the fraudulent votes. Mayo received two years' probation, $1,000 in fines and 200 hours of community service. Otteridge and McClatcher were sentenced to one year of probation plus fines and community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3BLKvCX, https://herit.ag/3lIXxd3
Mary Lou Simpson of Manchester was arrested after the 2004 election for attempting to vote in the name of her deceased sister. Ms. Simpson was spotted by a poll worker who recognized that she had already voted earlier in the day. The facts have been confirmed by the district attorney's office which prosecuted the case. The then 63-year-old woman was convicted of a Class E felony which is punishable by up to two years in prison.
Source: https://herit.ag/2WrcWWF
Melva Kay Ponce was convicted for mailing in an absentee ballot for her deceased mother in the November 2004 general election. She pleaded guilty to one charge of illegal voter registration and was sentenced to two years of deferred adjudication and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/2WlQZrP, https://herit.ag/3x92VK8
Robert Victor Holmgren cast a ballot for his recently-deceased wife in the 2004 general election. He pleaded guilty to voting twice in an election and was ordered to pay $490 in fines and court fees.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rDWBt7, https://herit.ag/3y9ytkE
