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

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge in Phoenix on Friday sentenced a woman o two years of felony probation, fines and community service for voting her lifeless mom’s poll in Arizona within the 2020 normal election.

But the decide rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve at the least 30 days in jail as a result of she lied to investigators and demanded that they hold those committing voter fraud accountable.

The case in opposition to Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is one among only a handful of voter fraud instances from Arizona’s 2020 election which have led to prices, regardless of 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 however now lives in California, sobbed as she apologized to Maricopa County Superior Courtroom Choose Margaret LaBianca before the decide handed down her sentence. McKee mentioned that she was grieving over the lack of her mom and had no intent to influence the end result of the election.

“Your Honor, I wish to apologize,” McKee instructed LaBianca. “I don’t need to make the excuse for my behavior. What I did was incorrect and I’m ready to just accept the consequences handed down by the court.”

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

Assistant Legal professional General Todd Lawson played a tape of McKee being interviewed by an investigator together with his office the place she mentioned there was rampant voter fraud and denied that she had signed and returned her mom’s poll.

“The only strategy to prevent voter fraud is to bodily go in and punch a poll,” McKee advised the investigator. “I imply, voter fraud is going to be prevalent so long as there’s mail-in voting, for sure. I imply, there’s no means to make sure a good election.

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

Tom Henze, McKee’s attorney, pointed to dozens of cases of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the previous decade, many for comparable violations of voting someone else’s ballot, and mentioned no one received jail time in these circumstances. He stated agreeing with Lawson that McKee should do 30 days jail time would raise constitutional issues of fairness.

“Merely stated, over a protracted period of time, in voluminous instances, 67 circumstances, no person in this state for comparable circumstances, in similar context ... nobody obtained jail time,” Henze said. “The court didn’t impose jail time in any respect.”

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

“What we’re hearing is voter fraud is out there,” Lawson advised the decide. “And basically what we’re seeing right here is someone who says ‘Well, I’m going to commit voter fraud as a result of it’s a big drawback and I’m just going to slide in under the radar. And I’m going to do it as a result of everybody 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 perspective you hear within the interview is the angle that differentiates this case from the other circumstances.”

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

“And if there were evidence that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence may be called for, the court would possibly order jail time,” LaBianca said. “However the file right here does not present 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 without any evidence, besides your own fraud, such statements aren't illegal as far as I do know,” the choose continued.