86-Year-Old Woman With Dementia Charged With Voter Fraud

According to Nicollet County Attorney Michelle Zehnder Fischer says prosecutors have no discretion and must bring the case regardless.

On July 13, 2012, Schneider voted by absentee ballot in her apartment with her daughter as her witness. Schneider said that she did not remember if she had voted for the person she intended to and so, she walked the half-block to her polling place in the Saint Peter Community Center to vote again.

The criminal complaint in the Nicollet County Court indicates that the election roster properly noted with an “AB” next to her name that Schneider had already voted absentee. However, the election official allowed her to vote again in person.

“The charge is voter fraud based upon the fact that the individual charged had voted twice in the primary elections,” explained Zehnder Fischer. “Minnesota law, unlike other laws, or other areas of prosecution, provides that if there is probable cause to believe that if a person violated the voter laws, that the prosecutor must file charges or that individual (the prosecutor) is guilty of a crime himself and can forfeit office.”

By: MR. RIGHT