Woman avoids jail for voting useless mother’s poll in Arizona

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

However the judge rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve a minimum of 30 days in jail because she lied to investigators and demanded that they hold those committing voter fraud accountable.

The case in opposition to Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is certainly one of just a handful of voter fraud instances from Arizona’s 2020 election that have led to charges, despite widespread perception amongst many supporters of former President Donald Trump that there was widespread voter fraud that led to his loss in Arizona and other battleground states.

McKee, who was from Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale however now lives in California, sobbed as she apologized to Maricopa County Superior Courtroom Decide Margaret LaBianca earlier than the decide handed down her sentence. McKee said that she was grieving over the loss of her mother and had no intent to affect the end result of the election.

“Your Honor, I wish to apologize,” McKee told LaBianca. “I don’t need to make the excuse for my conduct. What I did was wrong and I’m prepared to accept the consequences handed down by the courtroom.”

Both McKee and her mom, Mary Arendt, have been registered Republicans, though she was not requested if she voted for Trump. Arendt died on Oct. 5, 2020, two days before early ballots have been mailed to voters.

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

“The one option to prevent voter fraud is to physically go in and punch a poll,” McKee told the investigator. “I imply, voter fraud goes to be prevalent as long as there’s mail-in voting, for positive. I mean, there’s no approach to ensure a good election.

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

Tom Henze, McKee’s lawyer, pointed to dozens of instances of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the previous decade, many for comparable violations of voting someone else’s poll, and mentioned no one obtained jail time in these cases. He mentioned agreeing with Lawson that McKee ought to do 30 days jail time would elevate constitutional problems with fairness.

“Merely said, over a protracted time period, in voluminous instances, 67 cases, no person on this state for comparable circumstances, in related context ... no person obtained jail time,” Henze said. “The court didn’t impose jail time in any respect.”

But Lawson stated jail time was important because the kind of case has modified. Whereas in years previous, most cases concerned folks voting in two states as a result of they both lived in or had property in both states, in the 2020 election individuals had bought into Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.

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

“I don’t subscribe to that at all,” he said. “And I believe the angle you hear within the interview is the angle that differentiates this case from the other cases.”

LaBianca said that while she agreed with Lawson, ordering jail time would give McKee what she told the investigator what she wished: going after individuals who dedicated voter fraud.

“And if there have been evidence that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence may be known as for, the court docket may order jail time,” LaBianca stated. “But the file here doesn't show that this crime is on the rise.

“And abhorrent as it may be for somebody just like the defendant to assault the legitimacy of our free elections without any evidence, except your own fraud, such statements will not be illegal so far as I know,” the decide continued.