Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

GOP County Elections Commissioner To Plead Guilty To Voter Fraud–And Everyone Had The Same Response

Facebook screenshot of Jason Schofield
Jason Schofield/Facebook

Rensselaer County's Republican elections commissioner, Jason T. Schofield, was arrested in September by the FBI for fraudulently obtaining and filing absentee ballots.

Jason T. Schofield, a Republican elections commissioner in Rensselaer County, New York will plead guilty to fraudulently obtaining and filing absentee ballots.

Schofield's attorney, Danielle Neroni, confirmed her client will plead guilty on January 11, 2023 and that he "will be resigning from his position."


His plea would mark the second conviction in a probe spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding the harvesting of absentee ballots in elections over the past two years.

Schofield was arraigned in September on an indictment charging him with unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections in 2021.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said he "unlawfully possessed and used the names and dates of birth of voters in connection with absentee ballot applications he submitted to a New York State Board of Elections web site."

The agency said Schofield "took possession of the absentee ballots issued to these voters," brought them to voters, and had these voters sign absentee ballot envelopes but not actually vote, which enabled him or others to cast votes in these voters' names.

A source close to the case told reporters that as part of his guilty plea, Schofield will cooperate with federal investigators who are examining the misuse of county resources and employees to gather absentee ballots.

The FBI's investigation of voter fraud "is running parallel to a similar investigation by the state attorney general's office," according to The Times Union, which noted that state prosecutors recently served a grand jury subpoena on Rensselaer County to access "a trove of absentee ballot documents" that were handled in 2021 by the county's operations director and director of purchasing respectively.

False allegations of voter fraud have become a favorite conservative talking point over the last few years, particularly after former Republican President Donald Trump spent much of his term casting doubt on the integrity of the 2020 general election and since then has repeatedly and falsely declared it was stolen.

But even though many of Trump's supporters have embraced these allegations—despite the lack of any credible evidence—no evidence of widespread voter fraud has ever been uncovered and voter fraud itself, electoral experts and political scientists say, is actually quite rare.

The news of Schofield's guilty plea soon went viral and prompted many to make the same joke—that it's in fact Republicans who are guilty of the crime they've accused others of committing.



Schofield is of course only the latest Republican to face charges related to voter fraud.

For instance, over the summer, Barry Morphew, a Colorado man who was previously charged with the murder of his still-missing wife, pleaded guilty to casting a presidential ballot under her name for Trump in the 2020 election. Morphrew admitted he did so because he assumed Democrats were "cheating."

There is no evidence that the 2020 general election was stolen and Trump's statements often ran counter to the findings of federal agencies.

In fact, a statement from the Trump administration's own Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of a joint statement from the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees, affirmed the agencies found "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

More from People/donald-trump

Screenshots from @mstarland's TikTok video
@mstarland/TikTok

Pregnant Mom Calls Out Husband For Falling Asleep While Watching Their Two-Year-Old

There's nothing quite like discovering how much louder actions speak than words when your partner falls asleep on the job.

Especially when you're 38 weeks pregnant.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Jake Tapper and Mike Turner
CNN

GOP Rep. Ousted From Chairmanship By Trump Calls Out Colleagues For Russian Propaganda In Resurfaced Clip

Speaking to anchor Jake Tapper on CNN last April, Ohio Republican Mike Turner said that Russian propaganda had "infected" the GOP in a clip that has resurfaced after President-elect Donald Trump had him ousted as House Intelligence Committee chair.

At the time, Turner made it clear that his fellow Republicans were parroting Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine and its relationship with NATO members. That claim came after House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul, who said he thinks "Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @poorandhungry's TikTok video
@poorandhungry/TikTok

TikToker Dumbfounded After Discovering A Troll Signed Her Up For The Special Olympics

Some people are natural born givers and like to lift other people's spirits and find unique and fun ways to make them laugh.

TikToker @poorandhungry, or "Syd," is one such person who maintains a TikTok and Instagram account with funny parodies, quips, and skits that leave her audience rolling with laughter.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @myriamestrella8's TikTok video
@myriamestrella8/TikTok

Lesbian Speaks Out After She And Partner Were Targets Of Homophobic Bullying On Disney Cruise

A l Disney fan and her partner believe they were targeted in a homophobic bullying incident while traveling on a Disney cruise.

Myriam–a.k.a. @myriamestrella8–recounted the disturbing incident in the first of a couple of TikTok videos that went viral.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man walking by warehouse forklift
Pickawood/Unsplash

People Describe The All-Time Worst Jobs They've Ever Had

Dream jobs are the ones where they don't feel like work at all.

Very few are lucky enough to earn a living while fulfilling their passions. In contrast, others show up despite the arduous tasks involved in raising a family or living a comfortable life.

Keep ReadingShow less