Two years after contentious 2020 vote, Alaska finds only three voter fraud cases

A lady accused of voting illegally in each Alaska and Florida in the course of the 2020 elections will face costs in a Florida courtroom on Dec. 8, in keeping with on-line courtroom information.

When Cheryl-Ann Leslie is arraigned on felony counts of casting a couple of poll, she’s going to grow to be simply the second particular person charged with voter fraud associated to Alaska’s 2020 election.

Regardless of claims by some Alaskans that fraudulent voting modified the state’s election outcomes two years in the past, no proof of fraud on that scale has been uncovered by investigators.

After the 2020 election, Sen. Mike Bathe, R-Wasilla, was amongst those that collected details about doable fraudulent votes and forwarded it to state investigators.

In January 2022, Gov. Mike Dunleavy stated three circumstances of doable voter fraud had been being investigated by state troopers.

The Florida case was the results of a particular group of Florida investigators assigned particularly to election-related crimes. Patty Sullivan, a spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Legislation, stated the Alaska Division of Elections assisted Florida’s investigation and referred the problem to legislation enforcement right here.

It wasn’t clear whether or not the case was one of many three talked about by Dunleavy. The governor’s workplace referred a query to the Division of Legislation and the Division of Public Security.

In accordance with a public information request with the Alaska Court docket System, solely two voter misconduct circumstances have been filed since 2020.

One stays sealed by a decide’s order, making particulars of the case unattainable to find out. The opposite case includes a Copper Middle man who signed absentee ballots with an anti-gay epithet.

Terry Anthony Bell was initially charged with 5 felonies however pleaded responsible to only one misdemeanor rely of voter misconduct as a part of a plea cope with prosecutors.

Sullivan stated she couldn’t say whether or not some other circumstances will likely be filed by prosecutors.

“Aside from what’s public file, we can’t affirm the existence of lively prison investigations till prison costs have been introduced ahead,” she stated.

Earlier than the 2020 election, prosecutors accused Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, her chief of workers, and the chief of workers’s son of voter misconduct associated to elections in 2018 and 2014.

Partially due to courtroom closures in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the case in opposition to LeDoux and the 2 others has not gone to trial.

The following listening to within the case is scheduled for Dec. 12.