'To Show His Support,' Trump Fan Cast Illegal Ballot

Bruce Bartman, 70, charged with voting as dead mother in Pennsylvania
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 22, 2020 7:37 AM CST
'To Show His Support,' Trump Fan Cast Illegal Ballot
Chester County election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots for the 2020 general election in the United States at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., on Nov. 4.   (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A Pennsylvania supporter of President Trump has been charged with perjury and unlawful voting after allegedly casting a vote for his dead mother. Prosecutors say Bruce Bartman actually registered two dead women to vote as Republicans in Nether Providence Township in advance of the presidential election: his mother Elizabeth Bartman, who died in 2008, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Weihman, who died in 2019, per the Delaware County Daily Times. He successfully cast an absentee ballot for President Trump in his mother's name, prosecutors say. "In his political frustration, he chose to do something stupid," says a lawyer for the 70-year-old, who was arraigned Friday and released on $100,000 unsecured bail, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. "He's very much in favor of the president and wanted to show his support," Samuel Stretton adds, per the Daily Times.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer says Bartman admitted to breaking the law to "further the campaign of Donald Trump." But First Assistant District Attorney Tanner Rouse, who leads a task force dedicated to investigating election fraud claims, says this is the only known case of illegal voting in Delaware County. Rouse says "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," who's charged with two felony counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting, per the Inquirer. This is just the third reported case of voter fraud in Pennsylvania. Ralph Thurman, 71, a registered Republican in Chester County, is accused of trying to disguise himself as his son to vote in person. And Robert Lynn, 67, of Luzerne County is accused of fraudulently applying for a ballot for his dead mother. (More voter fraud stories.)

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