Girl avoids jail for voting useless mom’s poll in Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — A choose in Phoenix on Friday sentenced a woman o two years of felony probation, fines and neighborhood service for voting her lifeless mom’s ballot in Arizona within the 2020 general election.

But the judge rejected a prosecutor’s request that she serve at the very least 30 days in jail because she lied to investigators and demanded that they hold those committing voter fraud accountable.

The case against Tracey Kay McKee, 64, is considered one of only a handful of voter fraud cases from Arizona’s 2020 election which have led to costs, despite widespread belief among many supporters of former President Donald Trump that there was widespread voter fraud that led to his loss in Arizona and different battleground states.

McKee, who was from Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale however now lives in California, sobbed as she apologized to Maricopa County Superior Court docket Judge Margaret LaBianca before the decide handed down her sentence. McKee mentioned that she was grieving over the lack of her mom and had no intent to influence the end result of the election.

“Your Honor, I would like to apologize,” McKee informed LaBianca. “I don’t need to make the excuse for my habits. What I did was incorrect and I’m prepared to simply accept the consequences handed down by the courtroom.”

Each McKee and her mom, Mary Arendt, have been registered Republicans, though she was not asked if she voted for Trump. Arendt died on Oct. 5, 2020, two days earlier than early ballots were mailed to voters.

Assistant Lawyer Common Todd Lawson played a tape of McKee being interviewed by an investigator together with his workplace the place she stated there was rampant voter fraud and denied that she had signed and returned her mom’s ballot.

“The one method to stop voter fraud is to bodily go in and punch a ballot,” McKee advised the investigator. “I mean, voter fraud is going to be prevalent so long as there’s mail-in voting, for sure. I imply, there’s no way to make sure a good election.

“And I don’t believe that this was a good election,” she continued. “I do imagine there was a whole lot of voter fraud.”

Tom Henze, McKee’s legal professional, pointed to dozens of cases of voter fraud prosecuted in Arizona over the previous decade, many for related violations of voting another person’s ballot, and said nobody obtained jail time in these cases. He mentioned agreeing with Lawson that McKee ought to do 30 days jail time would elevate constitutional problems with equity.

“Merely said, over a long time period, in voluminous cases, 67 cases, no person in this state for similar cases, in similar context ... no one obtained jail time,” Henze mentioned. “The courtroom didn’t impose jail time in any respect.”

However Lawson said jail time was essential as a result of the type of case has changed. While in years previous, most cases involved people voting in two states as a result of they either lived in or had property in both states, in the 2020 election people had bought into Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.

“What we’re listening to is voter fraud is on the market,” Lawson informed the decide. “And primarily what we’re seeing right here is somebody who says ‘Effectively, I’m going to commit voter fraud as a result of it’s a big downside and I’m simply going to slide in underneath the radar. And I’m going to do it as a result of everybody else is doing it and I can get away with it.’

“I don’t subscribe to that in any respect,” he mentioned. “And I feel the perspective you hear in the interview is the attitude that differentiates this case from the opposite cases.”

LaBianca said that while she agreed with Lawson, ordering jail time would give McKee what she informed the investigator what she wished: going after people who committed voter fraud.

“And if there have been proof that this crime was on the rise, and that heightened deterrence could also be known as for, the court may order jail time,” LaBianca mentioned. “However the record here doesn't show that this crime is on the rise.

“And abhorrent as it could be for someone just like the defendant to assault the legitimacy of our free elections without any proof, except your own fraud, such statements will not be illegal so far as I know,” the judge continued.