MILLBOURNE, Pa. — This week, three local politicians from a small community adjacent to Philadelphia faced indictment for allegedly attempting to unlawfully influence the 2021 mayoral election by creating approximately thirty-six fraudulent mail-in ballots.
A federal grand jury has charged Mohammed Nurul Hasan, Mohammed Munsur Ali, and Mohammed Rafikul Islam with conspiring to falsely register individuals who do not reside in the borough, which has a small population of around 1,200, as local residents. This scheme involved obtaining mail-in ballots for themselves and then submitting these completed ballots to the Delaware County elections office.
At the time of the alleged crimes, Hasan was the vice president of the borough council and had lost the Democratic primary for mayor in a predominantly Democratic region. Meanwhile, while Ali emerged victorious in the Democratic primary for borough council, Islam did not secure re-election for his council seat during that year’s primary.
The voter fraud accusations stem from Hasan’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the mayoralty, where he ran as a write-in candidate in the fall of 2021, losing in the general election with a tally of 165 to 138 votes.
According to the indictment, Hasan and Ali allegedly informed acquaintances living outside Millbourne that they would not face repercussions as long as they refrained from voting in another election in November 2021. Moreover, it has been reported that some individuals were allegedly registered to vote in Millbourne without their consent.
The trio is further accused of falsifying signatures on the return envelopes of the mail-in ballots. The charges against them include conspiracy, providing false information during the registration process, and engaging in fraudulent voter registration. Hasan and Ali’s names do not appear alongside any attorneys in the court records, and messages seeking comment for them have been left at the borough office.
On the other hand, Islam’s attorney, Robert C. Keller, stated on Friday that his client is only implicated in three specific allegations. “At best, or worst, he’d be liable for three of the issues,” Keller remarked. He affirmed Islam’s clean criminal record, noting that he is a married American citizen with children and a steady job.
