Two alleged voter fraud cases identified by President Trump’s campaign in Georgia involving the casting of ballots by dead voters are now under investigation.
Trump officials named four “victims of voter fraud” this week, charging that ballots in Georgia’s general election were “illegally” cast in their names.
One Dade County man, Edward Skwiot, who died in 2015 at age 82, was issued a mail-in ballot on Oct. 1, which state records show was accepted on Oct. 19.
County Executive Ted Rumley said the case was now under investigation by the sheriff’s office.
“If it is true, and from what I understand it’s pointing toward that direction … they will trace that back to the address, and you know they will investigate it, open an investigation, and the people will be prosecuted,” Rumley said. “I don’t know if it’s a felony, I don’t know what the seriousness of it is, but to me it’s pretty serious.”
Sentencing guidelines for election fraud can stretch to 21 months in prison for a first-time offense.
Trump officials said Deborah Jean Christiansen from Roswell, an Atlanta suburb, was registered to vote on Oct. 5, long after she passed away in May 2019.
“Freaked me out,” said Scott Christiansen, who was married to Deborah Jean, on learning someone had voted in her name. He told Atlanta’s WSB-TV that a relative had informed him.
“You know, I know that kind of stuff happens every election,” said Christiansen. “People stealing votes, misvoting, dead people voting. You know, it happens.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger said his office was aware of the “dead voter” allegations and would investigate them.
However, two other cases alleged by the campaign of dead voters casting a ballot have been debunked.
On Friday, Atlanta’s 11Alive news interviewed Mrs. James E. Blalock, one of four voters that the Trump campaign alleged this week was dead, mistaking the widow for her deceased husband.
I just talked with a ‘dead’ voter. She’s alive & well, charming & sharp at 96. The president’s campaign said James E. Blalock had voted even though he died in 2006. It wasMrs. James E. Blalock. She voted legally against Trump. She first voted for FDR. Intvw shortly @11AliveNews pic.twitter.com/K3N1KmJjaJ
— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) November 13, 2020
In a statement, Newton County said the secretary of state’s database “does not pick up the prefix of Mrs.,” but noted that Blacock’s “profile shows she is a female.” Her husband “passed away in 2006 and was purged” from voter rolls that year.
“I am very disappointed that anyone would make an allegation like that … without checking it out,” Newton County’s Board of Elections Chairman Phil Johnson told CNN.
The Trump campaign claimed a woman named Linda Kesler, of Nicholson, died 17 years ago, “but someone cast a ballot under her identity in last week’s election.”
But Jackson County’s Elections and Voter Registration director told CNN that Kesler did not vote, and was purged from voter rolls in 2003 when she died.
“According to the director a completely different person, Lynda Kesler, did legally vote,” a reporter for CNN said in a tweet.
The Trump campaign and Republican officials have mounted a series of legal cases across the country in a bid to contest the results of the presidential election. Media outlets have projected that President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia, but the state began a hand count on Friday of the roughly 5 million ballots cast in the presidential election last week.
