A woman from northern Minnesota is facing three felony charges for allegedly attempting to submit a mail-in ballot for her late mother, highlighting how effective election security measures can prevent rare instances of voter fraud.
Officials from Itasca County, located approximately 200 miles north of Minneapolis, announced on Monday that the fraudulent ballot was detected thanks to the state’s monthly updates on deceased individuals sent to election officials. These officials promptly flag the deceased names within the voter registration system. In early October, the woman submitted ballots for both herself and her mother; however, county auditing confirmed that her mother had passed away at the end of August, prior to the issuance of absentee ballots.
The woman’s case was filed in the state district court in Grand Rapids last week. This comes as former President Donald Trump has claimed that he could lose the upcoming Nov. 5 election solely due to cheating by his political opponents. Nevertheless, there has been little to no significant evidence of voter fraud in the previous 2020 election, which Trump lost. Furthermore, there is no solid proof that his adversaries would engage in election rigging this year.
During an interview, the woman reportedly confessed to a sheriff’s lieutenant that she completed her mother’s ballot after her death, as stated in the probable cause document submitted to the court. It was noted that she had been a passionate supporter of Trump and had wished to vote for him before her passing.
County Attorney Jake Fauchald emphasized that this incident illustrates the capability of election officials to identify irregularities, adding that even smaller counties like Itasca, which has around 45,000 residents, are equipped to prosecute election fraud effectively.
“The issue was flagged almost immediately,” Fauchald stated. “We have systems to identify and address fraudulent ballots to ensure they do not go unnoticed.”
The woman is scheduled for her first court appearance on December 4. She faces one charge of illegal voting and two charges of signing or creating a false certificate, which involve allegations of forging her mother’s signature on both the ballot envelope and her own witness signature. Each charge has a potential penalty of five years in prison alongside a $10,000 fine.
It remains unclear whether the woman has legal representation, as all ten of her online phone numbers were disconnected. She did not respond to a Facebook request for comment on the matter.
Fauchald noted that this marks the first voter fraud case within the current election cycle for Itasca County. Previous investigations of the 2020 election, which delved into various voter fraud claims in pivotal states, revealed fewer than 475 suspected fraud cases out of millions of votes cast—insufficient to affect the election’s outcome. Democrat Joe Biden emerged victorious in those six states by a margin of 311,257 votes.
Itasca County Auditor Austin Rohling mentioned that he hasn’t encountered any cases of individuals voting falsely on behalf of the deceased during his nearly two years in office. He explained that while some ballots may be submitted before the death of a voter and later disqualified, there have been very few instances of intentional fraud within the state.
Rohling commented on the rarity of such incidents, saying, “Strange occurrences happen during elections, albeit on a very small scale, and most of them are not cases of deliberate fraud.” He concluded that “the system is functioning as intended.”