Lady avoids jail for voting dead mother’s ballot in Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge in Phoenix on Friday sentenced a girl o two years of felony probation, fines and community service for voting her useless mother’s poll in Arizona in the 2020 normal election.

However the choose rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve not less than 30 days in jail because she lied to investigators and demanded that they hold those committing voter fraud accountable.

The case against Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is one in all just a handful of voter fraud cases from Arizona’s 2020 election which have led to prices, regardless of widespread perception amongst many supporters of former President Donald Trump that there was widespread voter fraud that led to his loss in Arizona and different battleground states.

McKee, who was from Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale however now lives in California, sobbed as she apologized to Maricopa County Superior Court docket Decide Margaret LaBianca before the choose handed down her sentence. McKee stated that she was grieving over the loss of her mom and had no intent to impact the result of the election.

“Your Honor, I wish to apologize,” McKee instructed LaBianca. “I don’t need to make the excuse for my conduct. What I did was improper and I’m ready to accept the results handed down by the court docket.”

Both McKee and her mother, Mary Arendt, were registered Republicans, though she was not requested if she voted for Trump. Arendt died on Oct. 5, 2020, two days earlier than early ballots were mailed to voters.

Assistant Lawyer General Todd Lawson performed a tape of McKee being interviewed by an investigator together with his office the place she said there was rampant voter fraud and denied that she had signed and returned her mom’s ballot.

“The only way to stop voter fraud is to bodily go in and punch a ballot,” McKee advised the investigator. “I mean, voter fraud goes to be prevalent as long as there’s mail-in voting, for certain. I imply, there’s no approach to make sure a fair election.

“And I don’t believe that this was a good election,” she continued. “I do believe there was plenty of voter fraud.”

Tom Henze, McKee’s legal professional, pointed to dozens of instances of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the past decade, many for related violations of voting someone else’s poll, and stated no one got jail time in those cases. He mentioned agreeing with Lawson that McKee should do 30 days jail time would elevate constitutional problems with fairness.

“Merely said, over a protracted time frame, in voluminous cases, 67 cases, nobody on this state for comparable cases, in comparable context ... nobody got jail time,” Henze said. “The courtroom didn’t impose jail time at all.”

But Lawson said jail time was essential because the kind of case has modified. While in years past, most cases involved individuals voting in two states as a result of they either lived in or had property in each states, in the 2020 election individuals had bought into Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.

“What we’re hearing is voter fraud is out there,” Lawson instructed the judge. “And primarily what we’re seeing here is somebody who says ‘Properly, I’m going to commit voter fraud because it’s a big drawback and I’m just going to slip in underneath the radar. And I’m going to do it because everybody else is doing it and I can get away with it.’

“I don’t subscribe to that in any respect,” he stated. “And I feel the angle you hear within the interview is the attitude that differentiates this case from the other instances.”

LaBianca stated that while she agreed with Lawson, ordering jail time would give McKee what she advised the investigator what she wanted: going after individuals who committed voter fraud.

“And if there were evidence that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence could also be called for, the court may order jail time,” LaBianca mentioned. “But the file here does not show that this crime is on the rise.

“And abhorrent as it might be for somebody just like the defendant to assault the legitimacy of our free elections without any proof, except your individual fraud, such statements aren't illegal as far as I do know,” the decide continued.