Lady avoids jail for voting useless mom’s poll in Arizona

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

But the decide rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve not less than 30 days in jail as a result of she lied to investigators and demanded that they maintain those committing voter fraud accountable.

The case towards Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is one in every of only a handful of voter fraud cases from Arizona’s 2020 election which have led to charges, regardless of widespread perception amongst many supporters of former President Donald Trump that there was widespread voter fraud that led to his loss in Arizona and different battleground states.

McKee, who was from Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale but now lives in California, sobbed as she apologized to Maricopa County Superior Court docket Choose Margaret LaBianca before the choose handed down her sentence. McKee mentioned that she was grieving over the loss of her mom and had no intent to influence the result of the election.

“Your Honor, I want to apologize,” McKee advised LaBianca. “I don’t need to make the excuse for my conduct. What I did was mistaken and I’m prepared to accept the implications handed down by the court.”

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

Assistant Lawyer Normal Todd Lawson performed a tape of McKee being interviewed by an investigator with his workplace the place she mentioned 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 informed the investigator. “I imply, voter fraud goes to be prevalent so long as there’s mail-in voting, for sure. I mean, there’s no manner to ensure a good election.

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

Tom Henze, McKee’s legal professional, pointed to dozens of cases of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the past decade, many for related violations of voting someone else’s ballot, and stated nobody obtained jail time in those circumstances. He mentioned agreeing with Lawson that McKee should do 30 days jail time would raise constitutional problems with equity.

“Merely acknowledged, over an extended time frame, in voluminous circumstances, 67 circumstances, no person on this state for comparable instances, in comparable context ... nobody got jail time,” Henze said. “The court docket didn’t impose jail time in any respect.”

However Lawson mentioned jail time was vital because the kind of case has modified. Whereas in years previous, most circumstances concerned individuals voting in two states because 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 on the market,” Lawson instructed the choose. “And basically what we’re seeing right here is someone who says ‘Properly, I’m going to commit voter fraud as a result of it’s a giant problem and I’m just 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 think the angle you hear in the interview is the perspective that differentiates this case from the other instances.”

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

“And if there were evidence that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence could also be known as for, the courtroom would possibly order jail time,” LaBianca stated. “However the document right here does not show that this crime is on the rise.

“And abhorrent as it could be for someone just like the defendant to attack the legitimacy of our free elections with none evidence, besides your own fraud, such statements will not be illegal as far as I know,” the decide continued.