Girl avoids jail for voting lifeless 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 dead mom’s poll in Arizona within the 2020 normal election.

But the choose rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve no less than 30 days in jail as a result of she lied to investigators and demanded that they maintain these committing voter fraud accountable.

The case in opposition to Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is considered one of only a handful of voter fraud cases from Arizona’s 2020 election that have led to charges, despite widespread perception among 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 Judge Margaret LaBianca before the judge handed down her sentence. McKee stated that she was grieving over the loss of her mother and had no intent to impact the outcome of the election.

“Your Honor, I would like to apologize,” McKee informed LaBianca. “I don’t want to make the excuse for my habits. What I did was improper and I’m prepared to just accept the results handed down by the court.”

Each 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 where she stated there was rampant voter fraud and denied that she had signed and returned her mom’s ballot.

“The only strategy to forestall voter fraud is to bodily go in and punch a poll,” McKee told the investigator. “I mean, voter fraud goes to be prevalent so long as there’s mail-in voting, for sure. I mean, there’s no approach to make sure a fair election.

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

Tom Henze, McKee’s attorney, pointed to dozens of instances of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the previous decade, many for similar violations of voting another person’s ballot, and said nobody acquired jail time in these circumstances. He stated agreeing with Lawson that McKee should do 30 days jail time would elevate constitutional issues of equity.

“Merely acknowledged, over a protracted time period, in voluminous instances, 67 cases, no one in this state for comparable instances, in similar context ... no one acquired jail time,” Henze stated. “The court didn’t impose jail time at all.”

However Lawson mentioned jail time was necessary as a result of the type of case has modified. While in years past, most circumstances involved individuals voting in two states as a result of they both lived in or had property in each states, within the 2020 election people had bought into Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.

“What we’re listening to is voter fraud is out there,” Lawson informed the choose. “And primarily what we’re seeing right here is somebody who says ‘Properly, I’m going to commit voter fraud because it’s an enormous downside and I’m just going to slide in under the radar. And I’m going to do it as a result of 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 in the interview is the perspective that differentiates this case from the opposite instances.”

LaBianca stated that whereas she agreed with Lawson, ordering jail time would give McKee what she advised the investigator what she wanted: going after individuals who committed voter fraud.

“And if there were evidence that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence could also be referred to as for, the court docket would possibly order jail time,” LaBianca said. “However the report here does not show that this crime is on the rise.

“And abhorrent as it might be for somebody like the defendant to attack the legitimacy of our free elections with none evidence, except your own fraud, such statements are usually not illegal as far as I do know,” the judge continued.