Election Fraud Cases

Mohammad Shafiq

Mohammad Shafiq had a disagreement with Madison County sheriff candidate Clayton Lowe, and thought he would get back at the man by helping his opponent win the 2012 election. Shafiq fraudulently submitted voter registrations cards and--in the face of accusations--coerced a couple, Bennie and Margaret Pierce, to sign affidavits intended to exonerate him. Upon investigation, his ruse was discovered, and he was charged with two counts of perjury, three counts of tampering with evidence, and two counts of voter identification fraud. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years' probation with a fine of $6,750.

Source: https://herit.ag/3x5RhzJ, https://herit.ag/2Wi1fRW

Brian McDouglar

Brian McDouglar was convicted of falsifying or tampering with an absentee ballot. He was sentenced to two years in prison for the Class C felony.

Source: https://herit.ag/3y83Goj, https://herit.ag/3rDnspg

Steven Gaedtke

In 2015, Steven Gaedtke was convicted of duplicate voting during the 2010 general election. Gaedtke submitted an absentee ballot in Kansas, and then voted in person in Arkansas where he had a second home. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, agreeing to pay a $500 fine and court expenses.

Source: https://herit.ag/3xcAP0K

Stanley Leger

In the 2014 Turkey Creek election, incumbent mayor Heather Cloud was voted out of office by a margin of four votes. It was later revealed that Stanley Leger, a campaign employee for challenger Bert Campbell, had paid $15 each to four mentally impaired individuals in exchange for their promise to vote for Campbell. Cloud challenged the election. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals of Louisiana ordered that the four votes be struck and a new election be held, which Cloud won. Leger later pleaded guilty to illegal electioneering, receiving a suspended six-month jail sentence and 18 months' probation. He was also ordered to pay a $500 fine and $2,000 in restitution to Mayor Cloud.

Source: https://herit.ag/3rEwCBV, https://herit.ag/3zH51CV, https://herit.ag/3yb4kRM

Mark Atlas

Mark Atlas, of Worchester, Massachusetts, was charged in 2013 with voter fraud for voting under someone else's name. Although Atlas' attorney claimed it was just a prank, he admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding. The charge was continued without a finding for one year, and Atlas was ordered to pay $1000 in court costs, as well as serve 200 hours of community service.

Source: https://herit.ag/3y8oSu9, https://herit.ag/3x95sEq, https://herit.ag/3zHOMFO

Adam Kane Easlick

Adam Easlick, a resident in Ypsilanti, voted illegally in the 2012 presidential election in Tuscola County after registering at a post office. He was registered at multiple addresses outside of Ypsilanti. Easlick pleaded guilty to the charges and received six months' probation. Interestingly, following the voter fraud charges, in May 2013, after multiple warnings from the secretary of state, Easlick placed an ad on Craigslist seeking an address in Ingham County to obtain a fraudulent driver's license. Between March 2012 and February 2013, Easlick changed his registration among street addresses, post offices or mail-forwarding businesses in Clare, Hillsdale, Tuscola, and Kent counties.

Source: https://herit.ag/3f1ZtuQ

Max Sanders

Max Sanders, a student at the University of Minnesota, was charged with bribery, treating, and solicitation after offering to sell his vote to the highest bidder on eBay. Offering to buy or sell a vote is a felony under an 1893 Minnesota law. He was sentenced to 50 hours' community service. The charges will be dismissed if he completes his community service within six months.

Source: https://herit.ag/3i9o9mU, https://herit.ag/3BKBA4L, https://herit.ag/3iVp7mc

Deidra Humphrey

Deidra Humphrey, a former recruiter for the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, pleaded guilty to mail fraud after she submitted false and forged voter registrations to Missouri Pro-Vote, which unknowingly submitted them to elections boards in St. Louis city and St. Louis county. Maximum penalties for the offenses include 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Source: https://herit.ag/3mg9pVJ

Rhonda Wilhite Dowdy

While serving as a deputy circuit clerk, Rhonda Dowdy changed the address of a non-resident to an in-county address so that the individual could vote in a local election in which Dowdy's uncle was a candidate for sheriff. In exchange for manipulating voter records, Dowdy received a pledge that the voter would vote for a particular candidate. Dowdy resigned from her post and pleaded guilty to a criminal information charge.

Source: https://herit.ag/2Wg86LF, https://herit.ag/3fl9vaL

Mack Charles West, Jr.

Mack Charles West, Jr. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor voting out of district of legal domicile in the 2013 mayoral race in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. When West was arrested on January 28, 2015, he was on probation on a felony shoplifting charge. The voting fraud charge violated that probation, and West was booked into jail. On March 12, 2015, in Forrest County Circuit Court, West received a suspended sentence of six months and was fined $200 and ordered to pay $220.84 in court costs.

Source: hatne.ws/2u7bmt6

Mamie Johnson

Mamie Johnson pleaded guilty to voting out of district of legal domicile for the 2013 Hattiesburg mayoral election. Johnson received a suspended sentence of six months and was ordered to pay a $200 fine and $220.84 in court costs.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BOo0x6

Pasco Parker

Pasco Parker, a 63-year-old Tennessee resident, admitted to voting in three states during the 2012 federal election. He mailed an absentee ballot to both Florida and North Carolina, and he voted in person in Tennessee. Upon pleading guilty to felony voting fraud and felony voter registration, Parker was sentenced to between six and 17 months of jail time, and was ordered to complete 48 hours of community service. The sentence was later suspended in favor of 24 months of supervised probation, and $940 in fees, fines, and court costs. This case was brought to the attention of election officials by a North Carolina volunteer voting watchdog group, The Voting Integrity Project.

Source: https://herit.ag/3f22qeG, https://herit.ag/2WsDwyE, https://herit.ag/3EApsEQ

Samuel Walter Sylvester IV

Samuel Walter Sylvester IV pleaded guilty in Cumberland County to voting as a convicted felon. Sylvester was on probation in Wake County following his conviction for felony speeding to avoid arrest. In November, 2014, Sylvester illegally voted in violation of North Carolina law, which bars convicted felons from voting until their rights are restored. Sylvester was sentenced to six months' probation and ordered to complete 48 hours of community service.

Source: https://herit.ag/3y9yxAU, https://herit.ag/2VdbWoy

Bronwyn Louisa Johnson

Bronwyn Louisa Johnson was charged by the state in Moore County with one felony count of voter registration fraud after registering to vote as a convicted felon still on probation in the 2014 General Election. She pleaded guilty to one count of voter registration fraud, and on the same day she also pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of cocaine. She was sentenced to 4 to 14 months in prison which was suspended, given credit for 54 days of confinement, and placed on 12 months of unsupervised probation. She was also assessed court costs and fees totaling $1,254.50.

Source: herit.ag/3IkDuy5

Bruce Edward Johnson

Bruce Edward Johnson was charged by the state in Moore County with one felony count of voter registration fraud after registering to vote during the 2012 General Election despite being ineligible since he was a felon who was supposed to be serving a life sentence for a second degree murder charge. For reasons unknown, he was never taken back into custody after he was out on bond during his appeal in 1984, where his charge was upheld. He was arrested again in 2014 for a weapons charge. He pleaded guilty pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, a 1970 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows a defendant to plead guilty while still asserting his innocence, and was sentenced to probation to run concurrently with the prison sentence he is presently serving and ordered to pay court costs and fees totaling $405.

Source: herit.ag/3K0WL95 , herit.ag/3Kdfdvn