A former county elections commissioner in New York, Jason Schofield, has pleaded guilty to applying for absentee ballots in the names of other registered voters.
Schofield was an Elections Commissioner at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections (RCBOE) until late last month, when he resigned.
He admitted to unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of 12 voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections held in Rensselaer County in 2021.
“Jason Schofield, age 43, of Troy, New York, pled guilty today to unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections held in Rensselaer County in 2021,” according to a report.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“In pleading guilty to a 12-count indictment, Schofield admitted that in 2021, he unlawfully possessed and used the names and dates of birth of voters in connection with 12 absentee ballot applications he electronically submitted in the voters’ names to the New York State Voter Absentee Ballot Application Request Portal,” the report stated.
“Schofield admitted that for each application, he falsely certified that he was the voter requesting the ballot. He also admitted that he took personal possession of 9 of these ballots while knowing and intending that RCBOE records would falsely reflect that the ballots had been mailed to the voters.”
The former commissioner faces up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of up to 3 years.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 12, 2023, before United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino.
