Election Fraud Cases
Details
Jason Schofield, a Republican Elections Commissioner for Rensselaer County Board of Elections in Troy, New York, was federally charged with 12 felony counts of unlawful possession and use of a means of identification of another person to fraudulently request, complete, and submit absentee ballots on behalf of voters during the 2021 Rensselaer County Primary and General elections. Schofield, and other Rensselaer election board employees working under his direction, used the New York State Board of Elections website to request absentee ballots on behalf of 8 voters using their names and dates of birth. These individuals had either no interest in voting absentee or otherwise, did not request absentee ballots or assistance to vote or obtain an absentee ballot, or did not know Schofield was using their personal information. Schofield personally obtained 4 absentee ballots knowing that the county board of elections records would falsely reflect the ballots were mailed to the voters via USPS. For the other 4 voters, Schofield completed the ballots and brought the ballots to the voters, instructed them to sign the ballot envelopes, which were submitted in the elections. Schofield pleaded guilty to all 12 felony charges He has resigned from his position as Commissioner of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections as part of his plea agreement and is ordered to pay an assessment of $1,200 at the time of sentencing. He faces a maximum of 5 years in prison and fines of $250,000 and cannot accept reappointment to the Board of Elections as long as he is on probation or supervised release.
Source: herit.ag/3RZwHxk , herit.ag/3HV4i6Y , herit.ag/3HUe74Z , herit.ag/3RSEZa9
Details
Jacob Wohl, and his partner, John "Jack" Burkman, (both Republican operatives) were involved in a robocall phone scheme in which thousands of calls were made in the name of a non-existent group called Project 1599 to voters in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois urging voters not to vote by mail during the summer of 2020. The robocalls, which were designed to suppress the vote in predominantly black communities, falsely stated that voting by mail could lead to voter information being harvested by law enforcement, debt collectors, and other government agencies to enforce outstanding warrants and collect outstanding debts. They were sued, along with their lobbying firm (J.M. Burkman & Associates), by the New York Attorney General, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and several individual victims, and subsequently entered into a consent decree in which they agreed to pay the up to $1.25 million to the victims and to the State of New York. The Federal Communications Commission also issued a $5,134,500 penalty against Wohl, Burkman, and their lobbying firm related to the robocall scheme. Wohl and Burkman also pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Ohio (see entry in Ohio) and are currently facing charges in Michigan for their robocall scheme.
Source: herit.ag/3wK6X1P , herit.ag/4aKiADA , herit.ag/4bWkouq
Details
John "Jack" Burkman, and his partner, Jacob Wohl, (both Republican operatives) were involved in a robocall phone scheme in which thousands of calls were made in the name of a non-existent group called Project 1599 to voters in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois urging voters not to vote by mail during the summer of 2020. The robocalls, which were designed to suppress the vote in predominantly black communities, falsely stated that voting by mail could lead to voter information being harvested by law enforcement, debt collectors, and other government agencies to enforce outstanding warrants and collect outstanding debts. They were sued, along with their lobbying firm (J.M. Burkman & Associates), by the New York Attorney General, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and several individual victims, and subsequently entered into a consent decree in which they agreed to pay the up to $1.25 million to the victims and to the State of New York. The Federal Communications Commission also issued a $5,134,500 penalty against Wohl, Burkman, and their lobbying firm related to the robocall scheme. Wohl and Burkman also pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Ohio (see entry in Ohio) and are currently facing charges in Michigan for their robocall scheme.
Source: herit.ag/3wK6X1P , herit.ag/4aKiADA , herit.ag/4bWkouq
Details
Douglass Mackey aka "Ricky Vaughn"
Douglass Mackey, aka "Ricky Vaughn," was charged by the federal government with one count of conspiracy to interfere with the right to vote in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241 for using social media to spread disinformation about voting in the 2016 election with the intent to get people to fail to cast their votes. Vaughn, a conservative social media influencer with 58,000 Twitter followers, coordinated with others using Twitter to create posts and "memes" falsely claiming citizens could vote online by either "retweeting" certain posts, using a specific hashtag, or through text messages. Close to 5,000 Hillary Clinton supporters texted the fictitious number provided by Mackey. He was convicted by a federal jury and was sentenced to seven months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised probation, and was also ordered to pay fines and assessments totaling $15,100.
Source: herit.ag/4bUhJBi , herit.ag/4bSelrf , herit.ag/4dYTi7G , herit.ag/4bzd0Fm
Details
Kimberly McPherson, a city of Troy council member and Republican, pleaded guilty to one count of identity theft for casting absentee ballots in the names of two other people in the 2021 city council election. In seeking re-election, McPherson cast at least one absentee ballot on behalf of another during the primary election, and during the general election cast absentee ballots for at least two people other than herself. As part of her plea agreement, McPherson has agreed to resign her position on the city council. She faces up to 5 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced.
Source: https://herit.ag/3OObF1U , https://herit.ag/3QRV7HP
Details
Bert Goldfinger voted twice in the 2013 general election - by absentee ballot in Columbia County, and in person in New York City. At the time, Goldfinger was a dentist in New York who maintained a summer home in Columbia County. Goldfinger initially faced two felony charges for knowingly filing a false instrument and illegal voting, but as part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Goldfinger was ordered to pay a fine and surcharge of $225 and complete 20 hours of community service.
Source: https://herit.ag/3i9ua3k
Details
Volvy Smilowitz, along with Kenneth Nakdiem and Shalom Lamm, conspired to falsely register non-residents to vote in the 2014 village election in Bloomingburg, with the goal of electing board members who would favor their planned housing develoment project. They also bribed some non-residents to vote. To cover their tracks, the cabal created fake leases and decorated apartments to look like people lived in them. Smilowitz pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt the electoral process and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment followed by one year of supervised release, as well as a $2,500 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rDeJmP
Details
Shalom Lamm, a 57-year-old real estate developer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to corrupt the election process. He had partnered with another developer, Kenneth Nakdimen, to use false voter registrations to assist in electing officials that would be favorable toward a development project of theirs. Lamm was sentenced to 10 months in prison, one year supervised release, 400 hours of community service, and a $20,000 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/372H0d9, https://herit.ag/3BKpEjj, https://herit.ag/3f2mE8j, https://herit.ag/3iSZAtL
Details
Shalom Lamm's co-defendant, Kenneth Nakdimen, also a real estate developer from Monsey, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to corrupt the electoral process. Nakdimen and his partners planted items in unoccupied apartments to give a semblance of occupancy to falsely registered voters. He was sentenced to six months in prison in addition to one year of supervised release, 400 hours of community service, and a $20,000 fine.
Source: https://herit.ag/3i4UQlF, https://herit.ag/3iQEe09, https://herit.ag/3l0pYEC
Details
Rus Thompson, a political activist, pleaded guilty to one count of offering a false instrument for filing. Thompson, a longtime resident of Grand Island, was evicted from his home and moved to Niagara County. Nevertheless, Thompson signed an affidavit falsely claiming to be a Grand Island resident and voted there in the 2015 primary. The terms of Thompson's plea agreement stipulate that he will receive probation, thus avoiding any jail time. Thompson is set to be officially sentenced on May 3, 2017.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rH6aYf
Details
Harold Baird, of Sullivan County, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false voter registrations. Although not a resident of Bloomingburg, Baird--a former town supervisor of Mamakating, NY--sought to run for a village trustee position there in 2014. His losing bid for the office was part of a scheme with real estate developers to manipulate the election process so that Baird would later give favorable treatment to their development project.
Source: https://herit.ag/2Wi18Ww, https://herit.ag/3xaVZfL, https://herit.ag/3y9dyy9
Details
Ana Cuevas, a campaign aide for Hector Ramirez, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after she and other staff went door to door tricking potential voters into signing absentee ballot applications. They then took the applications to the Board of Elections, retrieved the absentee ballots, and voted for Ramirez without the voters' knowledge. Cuevas was sentenced to conditional discharge.
Source: https://herit.ag/3f1ksxT
Details
Ernest Everett was convicted on three counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Everett was initially charged with second-degree forgery and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. The charges stemmed from Everett filing nominating petitions that he knew were falsified with the Rensselaer County Board of Elections to run in the Democratic primary for mayor in 2015. Three of the seven misdemeanor charges were subsequently dismissed. Of the four remaining misdemeanor charges, a jury found Everett guilty of three counts of offering a false instrument for filing. Everett received a sentence of 90 hours of community service, to be served through the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Work Program.
Source: https://herit.ag/372GZ95, https://herit.ag/3BPtHe8, https://herit.ag/3f2mCxd, https://herit.ag/3iRXKJx
Details
Hector Ramirez pleaded guilty to one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument. Ramirez, a 2014 State Assembly Candidate for the 86th District Assemby District, deceived voters into giving their absentee ballots to his campaign on the false premise that the campaign would then submit the ballots. Instead, Ramirez's campaign inserted his name on at least thirty-five of the absentee ballots. Ramirez initially won the 2014 race, but a recount determined he had lost by two votes. In lieu of jail time, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett imposed a three-year ban on Ramirez running for office. Ramirez could face jail time if he runs for office in violation of his three-year ban. Prior to his guilty plea, Ramirez unsuccessfully ran for the same state assembly seat on numerous occasions, most recently in the 2016 election.
Source: https://herit.ag/3rDWtd7, https://herit.ag/2TCrzFs, https://herit.ag/3eYoWVW
Details
Frank Sparaco was, as his overseeing judge referred to him, a "rising star [who] has fallen very quickly, very far." A Rockland County Legislator, Sparaco pleaded guilty to eight misdemeanor charges for filing election petitions that nominated individuals to Clarkstown Republican Committee positions, while listing addresses that were not their true residences. In addition, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of furnishing false information by "renting" a room in his home so that he could register two other individuals to vote. He was forced to resign from his $103,000-per-year county legislator position and was sentenced to serve eight weekends of county jail time followed by three years' probation. He will be ineligible to hold political office during the probation.
Source: https://herit.ag/3l9XLLA
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.”
