Robert Monroe, identified by prosecutors as the worst multiple-voter in state history, pleaded no contest to charges that he voted more than once in 2011 and 2012. Monroe’s record was extensive: he voted twice in the April 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, twice in the 2011 recall election of state Senator Alberta Darling, and five times in Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election. He also cast an illegal ballot in the August 2012 primary and voted twice in the 2012 general election. On four of the counts, Monroe received a suspended three-year prison sentence, and will serve up to a year in jail. He also received five years’ probation, and was ordered to complete 300 hours of community service and pay a $5,000 fine. Wisconsin. 2016. Duplicate Voting. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Nebi Ademi, 63, a native of Macedonia who resides in Chippewa Falls, successfully cast a ballot in the April 2016 primary election, despite his status as a non-citizen. Ademi filled out a same-day registration, leaving blank the question about his citizenship. District Attorney Steve Gibbs noted that poll workers “should have caught this” and recommended, based on his determination that Ademi had not deliberately broken the law, that the charges against him be changed from election fraud to disorderly conduct. Ademi pleaded no contest. He was ordered to pay $443 in court costs. Wisconsin. 2016. Ineligible Voting. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
When Billy Mills ran for sheriff in Nelson County, he submitted a candidate qualification form with an address in that county. It was later uncovered that Mills did not live at the address he provided and was not a resident of Nelson County. This was a clear violation of state law that requires all members of government to be residents in the district over which they preside. Mills was originally charged with a Class 5 felony. As part of a plea deal, it was reduced to a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to six month suspended sentence. Virginia. 2016. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Mary P. Taylor was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of “communicating false information to registered voters.” Taylor, a critic of the Hampton school board, designed a fake website registered in the name of Ann Stephens Cherry, a candidate for the board, which endorsed incumbent Martha Mugler. On the website, Taylor posted a fake election date that fell one week after the real election. The Judge sentenced Taylor to 100 hours of community service and imposed a $1,000 fine. Virginia. 2016. Miscellaneous. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Guadalupe Rivera, a former Weslaco city commissioner, pleaded guilty to one count of providing illegal “assistance” to a voter by filling out an absentee ballot “in a way other than the way the voter directed or without direction from the voter.” The fraud took place during Rivera’s 2013 re-election bid, which he won by a scant 16 votes. His challenger sued alleging fraud, and a judge determined that 30 ballots had been illegally cast, enough to alter the outcome of the election. A new election was subsequently held, and Rivera lost. Rivera originally faced 16 election-related charges, 15 of which were dropped as part of his plea deal. He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Texas. 2016. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Prosecutors charged Graciela Sanchez with four misdemeanor counts of violating election law in an effort to assist Guadalupe Rivera win re-election to the post of Weslaco city commissioner in 2013. Rivera and Sanchez were found to have illegally “assisted” absentee ballot voters. The results of the election were disputed, and a judge determined that 30 ballots had been illegally cast in an election decided by only 16 votes. Sanchez pleaded guilty and received two years’ probation. Texas. 2016. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Robin Trainor, 56, and Laura Murtaugh, 57, were each sentenced to a year of probation and will not be allowed to vote for the next four years after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of election code violations. According to witnesses, Trainor, who was serving as the judge of elections at the polling place (even though she was disqualified from doing so as a public official), went into the voting booth with her husband and told him how to vote. She then stepped out of the voting booth, spoke to Murtaugh (who was serving as the minority elections inspector at the polling place), signed the election register under her 23-year-old son’s name, reset the voting machine, returned to the voting booth, and cast a ballot in his name. Trainor pleaded guilty to two charges–failure to perform duty and falsely holding the position of an election officer–and Murtaugh pleaded guilty to failure to perform her duty. As part of their plea bargains, the felony charges against them were dismissed. Pennsylvania. 2016. Impersonation Fraud at the Polls. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Myron Cowher and Dmitry Kupershmidt were found guilty of attempting to rig a May 2014 election in the private community of Wild Acres Lakes. According to Wild Acres Property Manager Robert Depaolis, Cowher approached him and asked him to provide Cowher with ballots that were due to be mailed to property owners in the community who seldom voted, for the express purpose of filling out those ballots and guaranteeing victory for Cowher’s preferred Board of Directors candidates. Depaolis went to the state police, who surveilled a meeting where Depaolis handed over the ballots, catching Cowher in the act of filling out the mail-in ballots. He was arrested and subsequently convicted on 217 counts, including forgery, identity theft, and criminal conspiracy. His accomplice, Kupershmidt, was found guilty on 190 counts. Cohwer received a sentence of between 18 months and four years in a state correctional facility, and was ordered to pay a $10,850 fine. Kuperschmidt’s sentencing has been delayed due to a change in attorneys. Pennsylvania. 2016. Altering the Vote Count. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Cheryl Ali, 57, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges: unlawful assistance in voting, and falsely holding the position of an election officer. In the May 2014 primary, Ali voted on behalf of her mother, whom she claimed was ill. In the May 2014 general election, Ali served as machine inspector at a polling place even though she did not live in that division. Ali was sentenced to one year of probation and stripped of her voting rights for the next four years. As part of her plea bargain, the felony charges against her were dismissed. Pennsylvania. 2016. Impersonation Fraud at the Polls. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
The Cleveland County Board of Elections determined that Robert Dean Hudson illegally voted despite being a convicted felon whose voting rights had not been restored. According to the Board, Hudson cast a ballot on October 20th, during North Carolina’s early voting period. His ballot was ordered removed by the Board, and Hudson was referred for possible prosecution. North Carolina. 2016. Ineligible Voting. Official Finding. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
For more than a year, the town of Pembroke had no mayor. Challenges stemming from voting irregularities and possible fraud continue long after a disputed November 2015 election and a March 2016 re-do. In the 2015 election, former town councilman Allen Dial won the mayoral post, but following residency challenges by runner-up Greg Cummings, the State Board of Elections ordered a new election be held. Cummings prevailed in that election, but ongoing challenges prevented him from assuming office. In August, four ballots were thrown out for being improperly cast, and Cummings is still ahead in the vote tally. Pembroke’s recent electoral history is colorful to say the least, having had to re-do an election in 2014 as well. North Carolina. 2016. Election Overturned. Official Finding. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Following a contested election because of voter irregularities for the Precinct 7 City Council seat in the town of Lumberton, the State Board of Elections ordered new election. In the initial election for the City Council seat, incumbent Leon Maynor held a one-vote lead over challenger Laura Sampson after several recounts. The second election also had problems, with Maynor successfully challenging the residency of 20 voters. Ultimately, roughly half of the 850 provisional ballots cast were thrown out for various reasons, and in the final tally Maynor retained his seat by a 20-vote margin. North Carolina. 2016. Election Overturned. Official Finding. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Roger Herres was indicted on one count of voter registration fraud and one count of voter fraud. Herres cast ballots in two states in the 2012 general election. According to court records, Herres pleaded guilty to the charges. North Carolina. 2016. Duplicate Voting. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor voter fraud charge. Cannon admitted that he cast an absentee ballot in the 2014 midterm elections, despite the fact that he had been convicted on felony corruption charges stemming from his acceptancy of $50,000 in bribes from FBI undercover agents. The conviction cost Cannon his right to vote. The plea deal in the voter fraud case saw one day tacked on to his already existing 44-month prison sentence. North Carolina. 2016. Ineligible Voting. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
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. New York. 2016. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
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. New York. 2016. False Registrations. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
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. New York. 2016. Ballot Petition Fraud. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
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. New York. 2016. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Derek Castonguay pleaded guilty to voter fraud in Salem District Court on January 15, 2016. While a resident of Manchester, Castonguay voted in the towns of Salem and Windham in the general election of 2014, using addresses where he previously resided. Castonguay received a 12-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a $1,000.00 fine plus a 24 percent penalty assessment. In addition to the sentence and fine, Castonguay loses his right to vote under the New Hampshire Constitution, Part I, Article 11. New Hampshire. 2016. Duplicate Voting. Criminal Conviction. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary
Nancy Sullivan, a resident of Windham, admitted having committed voter fraud in the 2014 general election. Sullivan fraudulently obtained an absentee ballot in the name of her son, Avery Galloway, by forging his signature on an absentee ballot request form, as well as on the envelope containing the completed ballot. Sullivan avoided criminal prosecution and the permanent loss of her ability to vote by paying a fine as a civil penalty and signing a consent agreement with the Attorney General. New Hampshire. 2016. Fraudulent Use of Abs. Ballots. Civil Penalty. Fraud Investigation. Report Summary