Election Fraud Cases

Francis Presto

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

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

Bruce Bartman

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

Robert Richard Lynn

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

Harry Sandoe Maxwell

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

Eugene Gallagher

Eugene Gallagher pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in connection with the November 2013 election, in which he was a candidate for councilman in the Taylor Borough. He unlawfully persuaded Taylor residents and non-residents to register for absentee ballots in the election using a Taylor address. Gallagher was the top vote-getter in the election and won his first term as councilman. With his guilty plea, Gallagher can no longer hold public office. A judge sentenced him to a maximum of 10 months in jail and two months of house arrest for both his election fraud conviction and a DUI conviction. He was also sentenced to more than five years of court supervision and 200 hours of community service.

Source: https://herit.ag/3l0pZbE

Richard Allan Toney

The former police chief of Harmar Township, pleaded guilty to illegally soliciting absentee ballots to benefit his wife and her running mate in the 2009 Democratic primary for town council. Toney applied for the ballots, and then had them filled out illegally by individuals not expected to be absent on election day. The absentee ballot count flipped the primary results, securing a victory for Mrs. Toney's running mate. During the subsequent FBI investigation, Mr. Toney attempted to prevent witnesses, including two grand jury witnesses, from testifying. Toney was sentenced to three years' probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3tXbxDG, https://herit.ag/3iTTE3J

David Patrick Duffy

David Patrick Duffy, of Doylestown, pleaded guilty to forgery, record tampering, and making an unsworn falsification to authorities in relation to falsified voter registrations. He forged numerous individuals' signatures on fraudulent voter registrations. Duffy was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay court costs.

Source: https://herit.ag/3ybqH9P, https://herit.ag/3EzxrSz

Austin Murphy

Former Congressman Austin Murphy was convicted on one charge of absentee ballot fraud. Murphy forged ballots for senior citizens living in a nursing home, claiming merely to be assisting them in exercising their voting rights. He was sentenced to six months of probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BOrBLR, https://herit.ag/3iSGMLl, https://herit.ag/3i71Y0V

1993 Philadelphia Special Election

A 1993 special Pennsylvania state senate election was overturned by a federal district court judge due to absentee ballot fraud. This election was important as the senate was evenly divided and the winner would determine which party controlled the senate. Campaign workers for Democratic candidate William Stimson engaged in a massive absentee ballot scheme involving nearly 600 tainted ballots. After a surprising and extraordinary surge in absentee ballots seemed to result in a victory for Stinson, an investigation was undertaken.  Stinson was indicted for his role in the scheme but was not convicted.  Two campaign workers, Ramon Pratt and Barbara Landers, were convicted of misdemeanor offenses.

In a related civil suit, however, a federal district court judge determined that Stinson and others engaged in a scheme to steal the election, and Stinson was removed from office.  The scheme primarily targeted Latino and black voters by using intimidation, and deception in order to fraudulently obtain and process absentee ballots in violation of state law. Two Democratic city commissioners, Margaret Tartaglione and Alexander Talmadge, Jr., and an elections supervisor, Dennis Kelly, were also found to have been complicit in allowing the fraud to occur.

Source: https://herit.ag/3kmWmR8, nyti.ms/37Iz7L4 , bit.ly/2WDw949 , https://herit.ag/3lAcK08

Barbara Landers

Barbara Landers, a Democrat campaign worker, was involved in a massive absentee ballot scheme during the 1993 Pennsylvania special state senate election. She was convicted of 30 counts of misleading absentee voters, given a suspended sentence, and fined $1,000.

Source: https://herit.ag/3Cxo187

Ramon Pratt

Ramon Pratt, a Democrat campaign worker, was involved in a massive absentee ballot scheme during the 1993 Pennsylvania special state senate election. He pleaded guilty to 22 counts of election law violations for his role in the scheme. Pratt was sentenced to two years of probation for his involvement.

Source: https://herit.ag/2Z5MZx0