Oregon Man Convicted of Vote Fraud

The vote fraud deniers were dealt a serious blow last week when an Oregon man was convicted of casting his son and brother's ballots. While that is illegal in and of itself, they are both dead. The Oregon Capital News has the whole story:

PORTLAND- At 81 years old, Lafayette Fredrick Keaton of Portland was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months in prison and a $5,000 fine, in addition to a three-month sentence in the Marion County jail.

What was Keaton's offense? Voter fraud.

Keaton was first suspected of fraudulent activity within the election system in March 2009. For years he had been voting for both his deceased son and his deceased brother.

[…]

"I want to ensure all Oregonians that any type of fraud in Oregon's election system is very rare and when identified taken very seriously," said Secretary of State Kate Brown in a statement to the press on Wednesday.

"Any attempt to violate election laws will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she said.

Oregon, like their neighbor Washington, is a vote by mail state. Meaning that to cast more than one ballot, he simply had to complete the ballot, sign the affidavit that they are who they say they are, and mail it back. No checking of photo ID or even a need to present himself at a polling place is required for him to cast his vote. If anything, this shows the need for states to enact voter ID laws and a system to crack down on this kind of double voting. It is also troubling that it took several years for his actions to be discovered by election officials.