A Pennsylvania man has been charged with illegally casting a ballot for President Trump in the name of his deceased mother in this year’s presidential election, authorities announced on Monday.
Bruce Bartman faces two felony counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting after casting an absentee ballot for Trump in the name of Elizabeth Bartman, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“In his political frustration, he chose to do something stupid,” Samuel Stretton, Bartman’s lawyer, told the newspaper. “And for that he is very sorry.”
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told reporters at a news conference Bartman admitted he was able to register his dead mother to vote online and request an absentee ballot in her name, which he filled out and submitted.
Bartman was also able to secure an absentee ballot in the name of his mother-in-law, who is also deceased, but did not cast a ballot in her name.
“For all the conspiracy theorists out there, this case today does not represent widespread voter fraud,” Stollsteimer said. “This case was evidence that one person committed voter fraud by casting an improper and illegal ballot.”
Local investigators said they began investigating when rumors began circulating about a ballot being illegally cast on social media. A complaint was eventually filed to the Delaware County Board of Elections, the Inquirer reported, and a task force was able to find evidence of a possible crime.
“In the hundreds of calls we received and the hundreds of visits we made, we only found one instance of malfeasance, and that was Mr. Bartman,” said First Assistant District Attorney Tanner Rouse, the head of that task force. “And he will be prosecuted.”
Bartman was arraigned on Friday and is out on bail.
Since the state was projected for President-elect Joe Biden, Trump and his allies have alleged that widespread voter fraud led to a “rigged” election against the president. Election officials in Pennsylvania have said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and state courts have dismissed lawsuits brought forth by the Trump campaign contesting the election’s result.
Pennsylvania
certified its election results on Nov. 24.
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