Republican county commissioner in upstate NY arrested for alleged 'voter fraud' scheme

MAGA Republicans all over the United States have been falsely accusing Democrats of committing widespread voter fraud and stealing elections, and many of them are, in the 2022 midterms, campaigning on the false and thoroughly debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump — including gubernatorial nominees such as Arizona’s Kari Lake and Pennsylvania’s Doug Mastriano. But in upstate New York, according to the New York Daily News, a Republican elections board commissioner, Jason T. Schofield, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13 “on charges of” allegedly “carrying out a brazen ballot scheme that allowed him to cast votes in voters’ names.”

The New York Daily News’ Tim Balk reports, “Jason Schofield applied for absentee ballots for voters who did not want to vote, and, in some instances, personally pushed voters to sign absentee ballot envelopes, positioning himself or his associates to commit voter fraud in primary and general elections in 2021, according to court papers. The 12-count indictment charging Schofield said ballots were counted from at least four voters who were instructed to sign ballot envelopes but were not allowed to complete them.”

The court papers, according to Balk, allege, “Schofield was able to vote — or have other people vote — in the RVs’ names.”

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Schofield is an elections board commissioner in upstate New York’s Rensselaer County, which is near the state capital of Albany and includes Troy, NY. Balk notes that Schofield “faces up to five years in prison on each of 12 counts of unlawful possession and use of a means of identification, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany.”

According to Balk, “The Albany Times Union reported that Schofield was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning outside his home, and entered a not guilty plea at court in the afternoon. Schofield was released pending a trial scheduled before Judge Mae D’Agostino. He declined to comment as he left his arraignment hearing, according to the Times Union. The Times Union reported that he was subpoenaed earlier this year in connection with a sweeping ballot probe that has also led a Troy city councilwoman to plead guilty to a count of identity theft.”

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