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

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

But the choose rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve no less than 30 days in jail as a result of she lied to investigators and demanded that they hold these committing voter fraud accountable.

The case against Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is considered one of only a handful of voter fraud cases from Arizona’s 2020 election which have led to costs, regardless of widespread belief among 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 Courtroom Judge Margaret LaBianca before the choose handed down her sentence. McKee mentioned that she was grieving over the lack of her mom and had no intent to affect the end result of the election.

“Your Honor, I would like to apologize,” McKee informed LaBianca. “I don’t wish to make the excuse for my conduct. What I did was fallacious and I’m prepared to simply accept the implications 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 before early ballots had been mailed to voters.

Assistant Legal professional Normal Todd Lawson performed a tape of McKee being interviewed by an investigator with his workplace the place she mentioned there was rampant voter fraud and denied that she had signed and returned her mom’s ballot.

“The only technique to forestall voter fraud is to physically go in and punch a ballot,” McKee informed the investigator. “I mean, voter fraud goes to be prevalent as long as there’s mail-in voting, for positive. I mean, there’s no way to make sure a fair election.

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

Tom Henze, McKee’s lawyer, pointed to dozens of cases of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the past decade, many for similar violations of voting someone else’s poll, and mentioned no one received jail time in those circumstances. He said agreeing with Lawson that McKee should do 30 days jail time would increase constitutional problems with equity.

“Merely said, over a protracted time period, in voluminous circumstances, 67 instances, no one in this state for related cases, in comparable context ... nobody bought jail time,” Henze said. “The court didn’t impose jail time at all.”

But Lawson stated jail time was necessary as a result of the type of case has modified. While in years previous, 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 folks had bought into Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.

“What we’re listening to is voter fraud is out there,” Lawson told the judge. “And essentially what we’re seeing right here is someone who says ‘Effectively, I’m going to commit voter fraud as a result of it’s an enormous downside and I’m simply going to slip in underneath the radar. And I’m going to do it as a result of all people else is doing it and I can get away with it.’

“I don’t subscribe to that at all,” he mentioned. “And I think the attitude you hear within the interview is the perspective that differentiates this case from the other instances.”

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

“And if there were proof that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence could also be known as for, the court might order jail time,” LaBianca said. “But the record right here doesn't show that this crime is on the rise.

“And abhorrent as it could be for somebody like the defendant to assault the legitimacy of our free elections without any proof, except your personal fraud, such statements are usually not unlawful so far as I do know,” the choose continued.