Election Fraud Cases
Details
David Cole, a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives from the 10th District, was charged by the state with one felony count of false registration after falsely claiming he resided in Alabama’s 10th state house district during the 2022 Primary and General Election. He also voted in 2022 in the 10th district even though he lived in District 4. Just before filing, Cole entered into a $5-per-month lease at a home in District 10, which he never occupied, although he registered that as his voting address and had mail sent there. Cole falsely claimed that he sold his District 4 house. Cole's crime came to light during his campaign to represent AL-10 in the state's House of Representatives, but did not conclude until after the election, which Cole won by 973 votes. He pleaded guilty to knowingly voting in a location for which he was not authorized, was sentenced to 60 days in Madison County jail and three years of probation, agreed to resign from his legislative seat, and was ordered to pay $52,885.79 in restitution (all the money he made while employed as a Representative). A new election was held on December 12, 2023.
Source: herit.ag/47e4toi , herit.ag/479QgIU , herit.ag/3GUPxRw
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Eugene Florence, a fifteen-time convicted felon, was charged by the state with two felony counts of submitting fraudulent voter registrations in Lee County in and around November 2021. Florence, working for a third-party voter registration organization named Hard Knocks Strategies LLC, knowingly submitted fraudulent voter registration forms with forged signatures for individuals who had not requested the forms and did not know or authorize Florence to fill them out. Although charged with only two fraudulent submissions, an affidavit alleged that 29 fraudulent registrations had been submitted by Florence and five others in Lee County and another 29 suspicious registrations were submitted by employees of the same company in Charlotte County. The organization was fined $46,600 for violations of third-party voter registration laws, including submitting registrations after the deadline, to the wrong county, and from residents of another state. Florence pleaded no contest to the two felony charges, was sentenced to 16 months in prison (to be served concurrently with another sentence he is serving for burglary), and assessed $1,498 in fines and court costs.
Source: herit.ag/3PG32d2 , herit.ag/3PFnfQ9 , herit.ag/3PDLxdi
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John Harter was charged by the state in Waukesha County with falsifying voter registration after falsely claiming his residential address on school board candidacy forms. Harter who was running for school board for the Hartland-Lakeside school district, falsely declared his residence at his father's house in Delafield despite living in the neighboring town of Brookfield, which is not in the school district. Harter pleaded guilty to 3 counts of falsifying voter registration and was sentenced to 30 days in jail (subject to work release during the day, referred to in Wisconsin as Huber release), fined $3,026, and assessed $400 in court costs.
Source: herit.ag/45SvqhF , herit.ag/3sZwT70
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Carlos Antonio De Bourbon Montenegro
Carlos Antonio De Montenegro (also known as Mark Anthony Gonsalves) was caught in an elaborate scheme to rig the mayoral election in Hawthorne, California. He was accused in a 41-count indictment of submitting (along with others) over 8,000 fraudulent voter registration applications on behalf of homeless people prior to the 2020 election, as well as falsifying names, addresses and signatures on nomination papers for him to run for mayor. Prosecutors allege that the entire operation was funded by the criminal gang MS-13 so that they could Montenegro in an elected position in order to help the gang. De Montenegro pleaded Nolo Contendere to three counts of false registration, registering non-existent voters, and perjury. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, two years of probation, and 30 days community labor.
Source: herit.ag/3PCuZSM , herit.ag/3Ph3H2X , herit.ag/44Sl3cn
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Dedrick De'ron Baldwin, a convicted felon, was charged by the state with two felony counts of submission of false voter registration information and two felony counts of willfully voting as an unqualified elector, after he voted in the 2020 Democratic Primary and 2020 General Election. He pleaded nolo contendere to all four charges and was sentenced to 364 days in prison on each count, to be served concurrently, with credit for 47 days of time served. Baldwin is already serving a 12-year sentence for manslaughter and aggravated battery. The fraud was discovered following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement following an eight-month investigation of Alachua County Democrat election supervisor Kim Barton who organized voter registration drives that improperly registered several inmates to vote.
Source: herit.ag/3v3IQ9y , herit.ag/3BK8CU0
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Marc Crump, a convicted felon, was charged with one felony count of false swearing to register to vote and two felony counts of illegally voting in connection with the August 2020 primary and November 2020 general election. He pleaded guilty to one count of false swearing and one count of illegal voting in exchange for the state dismissing the third count of illegal voting. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail on each count, to be served concurrently, with credit for 5 days of time served, and was assessed $668 in costs and fees.
Source: herit.ag/3hH0H31, herit.ag/3v32VwS , herit.ag/3Wv1pzq
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Zameahia J. Ismail was charged by the state with one felony count of registering to vote in more than one precinct and with one felony count of voting twice in the 2017 Hennepin County election. She registered and voted in-person in two different precincts in Hennepin County. She voted in St. Louis Park where she actually lives and voted a second time in Minneapolis after being encouraged by an acquaintance to vote for Abi Warsame, a Democrat candidate for Minneapolis City Council. Ismail voted in Minneapolis without having to provide any identification because her acquaintance vouched for her identity. In exchange for the state dismissing the double-voting charge, she agreed to plead guilty to the charge of registering in more than one precinct. Ismail was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to serve 20 days with the remainder stayed pending successful completion of two years of supervised probation. She also assessed fined and fees totaling $78.
Source: herit.ag/3G3qgEO, herit.ag/3v6Q0K8, herit.ag/3WcRLS8 , herit.ag/3I4JATV
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Frederick Gattuso, former Carteret Republican mayoral candidate, was charged with one count of fraudulent voting for voting twice during the November 2020 presidential election as different people with similar names. Gattuso pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with public records and was sentenced to one year of probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3CgCA39
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Richard Garrett, a former Clarksville City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem, pled guilty to a state felony charge of voter registration fraud for providing a false address as his primary residence, when, in fact, he lived and voted outside the district that he represented. He was sentenced to probation for two years and assessed $1,719 in fines and fees.
Source: https://herit.ag/3CwYjn5
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Lawrence Klug, was charged with one felony count of providing false information to an election official for casting a vote while not residing in Fond du Lac County during the 2020 general election. He used the address of a UPS Store for his voter registration. He was convicted of one misdemeanor charge of falsifying voter registration and fined $500 in court costs.
Source: https://herit.ag/3SV6oIC
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Neil Kitchens, a former Republican state assembly candidate, was charged with claiming a false residency for candidacy in the 2018 general election. Kitchens claimed residency in the 30th district, when he actually lived in the neighboring 29th district. Kitchens pleaded no contest to one felony charge of filing a false declaration of candidacy and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Source: bit.ly/3qDBZ21, bit.ly/3cnYvH3
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Alex Campbell, Republican city councilman and mayor pro tem of Crescent City, California, falsely claimed his residence was within city limits when submitting his candidacy for councilman. Campbell was charged with two felony counts of perjury and one count of false declaration of his candidacy and pleaded guilty to one count of making a false declaration of candidacy. He faces up to two years of probation and $20,000 in fines for his charge.
Source: https://herit.ag/3vJP26e, https://herit.ag/3ba1J0G
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Anthony Guevara, of Naples Florida, was charged by the state with one count of accessing a computer without authorization and one count of altering voter registration of another without knowledge/consent, both felony offenses. Guevara changed the voter registration address of Governor DeSantis in Florida's state voter database. Law enforcement officers were able to trace the IP address from which DeSantis' address was changed to Guevara's home. He pleaded no contest to the two charges and was sentenced to 2 years’ probation (reduced to one year upon completion of specified conditions), 100 hours of community service, fined $5,421.39, and assessed $515 in court and prosecution costs.
Source: https://herit.ag/3U0mzDQ, https://herit.ag/3VmvK2f, https://herit.ag/3VnCtcx
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Cheryl Hall, a Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, falsely submitted at least voter registrations in which she altered the party affiliation from Democrat to either Republican or no party affiliation in connection with the 2020 presidential primary election. The discrepancy with the voter registration forms was discovered by a county election supervisor noticed that several of the forms had identical handwriting; several of the voters also complained to the Supervisor of Elections that their party affiliation had been changed without their consent. Hall pleaded no contest to 10 felony charges of submitting false voter registration information and was sentenced to 1 year of supervised release and fined $723.
Source: bit.ly/3HfruKZ , bit.ly/3et4uvW , bit.ly/32DxrTd
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Michael Winters was charged in Gallatin County with one count of deceptive election practices for filling out a voter registration form under the false name "Miguel Raton" - Spanish for Mickey Mouse. Winters combined his driver's license number and Mickey Mouse's birthday to fill out the registration form. But the ID number belonged to a Missoula resident, which Winters said was unintentional, and he didn't know the person. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 6 months in prison, which was suspended in lieu of his completing 100 hours of community service. He was also assessed fees and costs of $375.
Source: https://herit.ag/40IAtxS, https://herit.ag/40Q6Pa1, https://herit.ag/41FzbVt , https://herit.ag/3ozrQrT
Key & Definitions
Types of Cases
Any case that results in a defendant entering a plea of guilty or no contest, or being found guilty in court of election-related offenses.
A finding by a court of law that fraud occurred in an election, including judicial orders overturning election results or ordering a new election due to fraud.
Any civil case resulting in fines or other penalties imposed for a violation of election laws.
A finding by a government body that fraud occurred in an election, including orders overturning election results or ordering a new election due to fraud.
Any criminal case in which a judge directs a defendant into a pre-trial diversion program, or stays or defers adjudication with the understanding that the conviction will be cleared upon completion of the program.
Types of Voter Fraud
Requesting absentee ballots and voting without the knowledge of the actual voter; or obtaining the absentee ballot from a voter and either filling it in directly and forging the voter’s signature or illegally telling the voter who to vote for.
Illegal registration and voting by individuals who are not U.S. citizens, are convicted felons, or are otherwise not eligible to vote.
Voting in the name of other legitimate voters and voters who have died, moved away, or lost their right to vote because they are felons, but remain registered.
Paying voters to cast either an in-person or absentee ballot for a particular candidate.
Forging the signatures of registered voters on the ballot petitions that must be filed with election officials in some states for a candidate or issue to be listed on the official ballot
Registering in multiple locations and voting in the same election in more than one jurisdiction or state.
Voting under fraudulent voter registrations that either use a phony name and a real or fake address or claim residence in a particular jurisdiction where the registered voter does not actually live and is not entitled to vote.
Changing the actual vote count either in a precinct or at the central location where votes are counted.
Forcing or intimidating voters—particularly the elderly, disabled, illiterate, and those for whom English is a second language—to vote for particular candidates while supposedly providing them with “assistance.”
