Jason Schofield, the Republican elections board commissioner in upstate Rensselaer County was arrested Tuesday on charges of carrying out a brazen ballot scheme that allowed him to cast votes in voters’ names, The Albany Times Union reports.
According to court papers, Schofield, 42, applied for absentee ballots for voters who did not want to vote and personally pushed voters to sign absentee ballot envelopes, positioning himself or his associates to commit voter fraud in primary and general elections.
The 12-count indictment charging Schofield was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, according to the report. Court documents say ballots were counted from voters who were instructed to sign ballot envelopes but were not allowed to complete them.
“Schofield was able to vote — or have other people vote — in the RVs’ names,” said the court papers, using an acronym for registered voters.
Schofield was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning outside his home and entered a not guilty plea at court in the afternoon. He faces up to five years in prison on each of 12 counts of unlawful possession and use of a means of identification for a total of 60 years if convicted on all counts, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany.
The Times Union reported that he was subpoenaed earlier this year in connection with a sweeping ballot probe that has also led a Troy city GOP councilwoman to plead guilty to a count of identity theft.
It’s unclear whether additional individuals will face charges in the ongoing investigation, though law enforcement sources say it is likely.
Read more at The Albany Times Union.
