A local elections official in New York was arrested Tuesday by the FBI, accused in a ballot scheme that allowed him or others to cast votes in other's names. On at least five occasions between May and October 2021—a period in which voters could request absentee ballots online as a result of the coronavirus pandemic—Jason Schofield, a Republican elections commissioner in upstate Rensselaer County, requested absentee ballots on behalf of at least eight voters, "who had no interest in voting in 2021; did not request absentee ballots, or Schofield's assistance in voting … and/or did not know that Schofield was using their personal information," according to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York. The ballots were cast in the county's primary and general elections.
At least four times, the 42-year-old got voters to sign the back of the ballots but did not "ask or permit" them to vote for local positions including mayor of Rensselaer, charging documents read, per the New York Times. "Schofield was able to vote—or have other people vote—in the [registered voters'] names," documents state, per the New York Daily News. The FBI began investigating Schofield after an earlier federal investigation revealed Kimberly Ashe-McPherson, a former Republican councilwoman in the county seat of Troy, had cast three absentee ballots in other people's names in the same elections. A plea agreement, in which she admitted to identity theft, noted she'd been guided by an official at the county Board of Elections. That was Schofield, reports the Albany Times Union.
Accused of acting on his own or directing an employee to act for him, he's charged with 12 felony counts of unlawfully possessing and using a means of identification and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. Arraigned Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He "will continue to fight the case," says his lawyer Danielle Neroni, per the Times. More charges in the case are likely, per the Times Union. Earlier in 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Rensselaer County elections commissioners, claiming they "repeatedly refused to select an early voting site that was easily accessible to Troy residents, where the majority of the county's Black, Hispanic, and lower-income communities reside," the Times notes. (This is the same county that delivered "Osama" ballots in 2008.)
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