Election Fraud Cases
Details
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
Details
Christine Daikawa was charged with absentee ballot fraud (a misdemeanor) and attempting to impersonate an elector (a felony) after submitting her dead partner's ballot during the 2020 general election. Daikawa pleaded no contest, and was adjudicated guilty, to both charges and was sentenced to 30 days for the misdemeanor charge and 60 days for the felony which will be served consecutively and ordered to pay $961 in court costs.
Source: https://herit.ag/3RCOetk, https://herit.ag/3Cy05EF
Details
Thomas Rudd, a former coroner in Lake County, Illinois, was charged with five felony counts of perjury for making false statements on nominating petitions for his 2016 re-election. Rudd signed the petitions, falsely indicating he had been personally present when voters signed them, and later made the same claim under oath. Prosecutors alleged that 15-20 petition signatures were falsified, including one in the name of a person who had been dead for over 10 years. The felony charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal, and Rudd pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges of disregard of the election code. He was given 24 months of probation, ordered to pay two $5,000 fines, and was barred from public employment for five years.
Source: https://herit.ag/3l35VFS, bit.ly/2vLytJc
Details
Richard Douglas Dohmen, of James City County, committed voter fraud when he attempted to cast ballots for both himself and his dead wife in a 2018 state election. Dohmen was charged with forging public records and making false statements on required forms, and pleaded guilty to making false statements on required forms. He was sentenced to 1 year in the penitentiary, 3 years of unsupervised probation, and was ordered to pay a $458 fine.
Source: Case Number: CR19028447-00, https://herit.ag/3x2tbWI
Details
Terry Hambrick tried to steal the identity of his dead brother Aaron in order to secure a driver's license. As part of his identity theft scheme, Hambrick registered to vote. When he was stopped for suspected drunk driving, the police learned his real identity. He ultimately pleaded guilty to identity theft and two counts of perjury, including one in connection with his false voter registration. He is currently serving a 10-year sentence at a correctional facility.
Source: https://herit.ag/3f2Sq54
Details
Michelle Robinson pleaded guilty to 13 counts of election law violations in connection with a fraudulent voter registration scheme. Robinson worked for Operation Big Vote, an initiative aimed at boosting the participation of black voters in the 2001 St. Louis mayoral election. She submitted 13 voter registration cards made out in the names of dead former city aldermen. Robinson was simultaneously convicted on drug charges and her combined sentence was four years of probation, 180 hours of community service, and mandatory training in transcendental meditation.
Source: bit.ly/2fgTJ08
Details
Operation Big Vote, an effort to register black voters, led to a scheme to register prominent dead local politicians to vote. Nonaresa Montgomery, an Operation Big Vote employee, was convicted of perjury for lying to a grand jury investigating thousands of fraudulent voter registration cards turned in before the 2001 mayoral primary. Six others pleaded guilty to dozens of election law violations in connection with the scheme. Montgomery received two years of probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3zFefQ3, https://herit.ag/2Va2xho
Details
A former election judge, Leander Brooks, pleaded guilty to election fraud in the 2002 election. He forged signatures of three dead people on absentee ballot applications. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $400 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3f2YDhs, Docket # 03-CR-30201-DRH
Details
Jackson Jones, Don McCranie, and Doyce Mullis
Jackson Jones, Don McCranie and Doyce Mullis, Dodge County sheriff, commissioner, and former commissioner, respectively, were convicted of conspiracy to buy votes. The harshest sentence went to McCranie, who received a 30-month prison term, three years of probation, 150 hours of community service, and $5,000 in fines. Sheriff Jones was sentenced to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Doyce Mullis was sentenced to one year in prison, three years of supervised release, 100 of community service, and a $5,000 fine. They were the last of 27 people to be sentenced in the election fraud case, which state investigators said also included cases of double voting, felon voting, and at least one ballot being cast in the name of a dead person.
Source: https://herit.ag/3f2YD0W
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.”
