The Republican elections board commissioner in upstate Rensselaer County was arrested Tuesday on expenses of finishing up a brazen poll scheme that allowed him to solid votes in voters’ names.
Jason Schofield utilized for absentee ballots for voters who didn't wish to vote, and, in some situations, personally pushed voters to signal absentee poll envelopes, positioning himself or his associates to commit voter fraud in major and basic elections in 2021, in response to court docket papers.
The 12-count indictment charging Schofield mentioned ballots have been counted from at the very least 4 voters who have been instructed to signal poll envelopes however weren't allowed to finish them.
“Schofield was in a position to vote — or produce other individuals vote — within the RVs’ names,” mentioned the court docket papers, utilizing an acronym for registered voters.
The nine-page indictment was filed final Thursday within the U.S. District Court docket for the Northern District of New York.
Schofield, 42, of Troy, N.Y., faces as much as 5 years in jail on every of 12 counts of illegal possession and use of a way of identification, in response to the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Albany.
“He maintains his innocence,” Danielle Neroni, his lawyer, mentioned by cellphone Tuesday afternoon.The Albany Occasions Union reported that Schofield was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning outdoors his dwelling, and entered a not responsible plea at court docket within the afternoon.
Schofield was launched pending a trial scheduled earlier than Choose Mae D’Agostino. He declined to remark as he left his arraignment listening to, in response to the Occasions Union.
The Occasions Union reported that he was subpoenaed earlier this 12 months in reference to a sweeping poll probe that has additionally led a Troy metropolis councilwoman to plead responsible to a depend of identification theft.
The Rensselaer County Board of Elections didn't instantly return a request for remark. The elections board is positioned in Troy, about seven miles northeast of downtown Albany.
Rensselaer County, a swing county, went for former President Donald Trump within the 2016 election and President Joe Biden in 2020.
— Tim Balk New York Each day Information (TNS)
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