A Minnesota lady convicted of filling out and submitting a mail-in poll for her deceased mom in help of Republican Donald Trump throughout the 2024 presidential election was ordered by a decide to jot down an essay and skim a ebook about voting’s significance to democracy.
Itasca County Legal professional Jake Fauchald stated the Minnesota case reveals how effectively the election system works and catches tried voter fraud.
Danielle Christine Miller, 51, of Nashwauk, in a rural space about three hours north of Minneapolis, was charged final fall with three felonies after native election officers notified authorities in October about two absentee ballots that had been flagged for fraud.
A kind of was from a registered voter who had died, Miller’s mom.
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In response to courtroom papers, Miller instructed an investigator that she had crammed out her mom’s absentee poll and signed her mom’s title on its signature envelope. She stated her mom was an avid Trump supporter and needed to vote for him, however she died in August 2024 earlier than receiving an absentee poll, in accordance with the grievance. Miller additionally stated she signed her mom’s signature as a witness on her personal poll, the doc stated.
Miller pleaded responsible final week to deliberately making or signing a false certificates. As a part of her plea, she claimed she was intoxicated when submitting the mail ballots and was unable to exactly bear in mind what she did, however agreed that the proof might discover her responsible, Fauchald stated.
A message left for Miller’s legal professional was not instantly returned.
Minnesota Ninth Judicial District Choose Heidi Chandler on Wednesday dismissed the opposite two costs. Miller’s sentence contains as much as three years of supervised probation and an $885 superb.
The decide additionally imposed another unorthodox circumstances.
Miller should learn a ebook concerning the historical past of voting in America and present associated points, “Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America,” by Erin Geiger Smith; and he or she was ordered to jot down a 10-page paper “regarding the importance in voting in a democracy and how election fraud can undermine the voting process.”
Fauchald stated the sentence is a good final result. He referred to as the paper a singular facet of sentencing, however a good expectation.
“I think the sentence that was imposed here is very much designed to help her better understand the importance of those things and make sure that she doesn’t — and quite frankly other people don’t — take the same type of actions in the future,” the prosecutor stated.
Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.
